Chris Hazzard MP supported journalists Birney and McCaffrey at Royal Courts of Justice in London at a tribunal
South Down MP Chris Hazzard is in London today as the Investigatory Powers Tribunal continues its investigation into extensive covert surveillance of local journalists by PSNI and British security organisations.
The Sinn Féin MP said:xa0“I am delighted to be here with journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey at the Royal Courts of Justice in London as they continue to clear their names.
“This case is yet another shocking example of the lengths that police and state bodies have gone to deny families truth and justice, and instead have sought to criminalise journalists for doing their job.
“It is not lost on the people of South Down that the time, effort and resources deployed by the British state to suppress investigatory journalists stands in stark contrast to the abysmal failure to investigate the murder of six men watching a football match in Loughinisland in 1994.”
On the 18th June 1994, while local people watched Ireland playing Italy in the Soccer World Cup in the Heights Bar in Loughinisland, two UVF gunmen burst in and sprayed the room with bullets from assault rifles killing six and wounding five.
The customers were sitting with their back to the door watching the TV behind the bar. Killed in the attack were Adrian Rogan, Barney Green, Dan McCreanor, Eamon Byrne, Malcolm Jenkinson, and Patsy O’Hare.
Subsequently the then Police Ombudsman Michael Maquire came to a meeting in the Loughinisland GAA clubrooms and said that there was evidence of collusion between the RUC and the UVF.
Journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey then investigated the shooting in detail and their findings led to the production of the controversial documentary ‘No Stone Unturned.’
The NUJ (Ireland) General Secretary Seamus Dooley has also fully backed the two journalists in their professional and ethical investigation on the incident.
(The full film can be viewed on You Tube on the link below and is age restricted.)
Journalists McBirney and McCaffrey have been subject to considerable legal pressures since the release of the documentary, and have received the full support of Sinn Féin, and other parties, the NUJ and other human rights groups.
(Former South Down Sinn Féin MLA Emma Rogan spoke out about her father Aidan Rogan who was killed in the attack. View the article below for more detail.)
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