Stormont Justice Minister expresses concern over ‘surveillance of journalists’
Stormont Justice Minister Naomi Long speaking to the media at her department on the Stormont estate, Belfast, March 13, 2024
STORMONT Justice Minister Naomi Long expressed concern on Monday over allegations of police surveillance of journalists in Northern Ireland.
A hearing of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) in London earlier this month heard claims that police in Northern Ireland undertook six-monthly trawls of the phone data of “troublemaker” journalists to see if they were in contact with officer sources.
It came during a hearing of a case examining allegations that investigative reporters Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney were subject to unlawful covert intelligence by the police.
Similar stories
Journalists call for public inquiry into police surveillance of journalists in Northern Ireland
TIM DAWSON looks at how obsessive police surveillance of journalists undermines the very essence of democracy
