There are doubts that the police forces throughout the United Kingdom participated in spying on journalists, and the deputies have been informed.
Two Belfast journalists told the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee that their experience in secret monitoring showed that a general investigation was needed, describing it as a “attack on democracy.”
The IPT Court (IPT) ruled last year that a secret monitoring operation was authorized by the Northern Ireland police chief in an attempt to reveal the press sources of award -winning journalists, Treefor Bernie and Barry Makavri.
The court canceled the decision taken by the former police department in Northern Ireland (PSNI), Sir George Hamilton, to agree to the DSA monitoring license in an investigation into a secret document leakage that appeared in a documentary film about the massacre of problems.
In 2018, Makavri and Berni were arrested as part of the police investigations into the alleged leakage of the document that appeared in a documentary film they made in the 1994 loyal massacre in Loginsland, Co.
PSNI, referring to a conflict of interests, asked Durham Police to lead the investigation into the inclusion of the Ombudging Secretary in the police in the Northern Ireland document in the NO Stone movie, which was unprecedented in the UVF fire that killed six men.
PSNI later apologized without reservation for the way the two journalists were treated and agreed to pay 875,000 pounds as compensation for them and the cinematic movement behind the documentary.
In 2019, Bernie and Makavre filed a complaint with the IPT asking for proving whether there was illegal monitoring for them.
The court heard that the investigator asked DSA from Sir George to monitor whether the correspondents would contact their source a week after their initial launch of the reservation.
Sir George agreed to the confidential monitoring of the individual suspected of the source of the leaked document.
The court also looked at separate allegations that PSNI and Metropolitan Police in London had illegally reached MCCAFREY data in non -relevant operations, in 2013 and 2012. The two forces had already recognized that 2012 and 2013 operations were illegal.
Spy “has nothing to do with national security”
The two journalists, along with Simos International, Assistant Secretary -General of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), provided evidence on Wednesday on The Westminster Committee, which is investigating the freedom of the press in Northern Ireland.
Astrate said that the disclosure documents obtained by the IPT showed that journalists had spied on “identifying our press sources only.”
He said: “When you look at the disclosure and the police note that IPT participated with us, it is quite clear that on every occasion, it has nothing to do with national security, everything related to trying to identify press sources.
“In fact, documents show that PSNI described myself and other journalists as criminals.”
He added: “We now know that PSNI spies five times to determine press sources.
“This spy on my contacts with workers’ union officials and civilian employees have even used a loyal threat to kill against me for a phone record match.
“This was just an excuse for the record newspaper through phone records for a working journalist.”
A complaint “I withdrew the topic” reveals “ugly picture”
Bernie said they “pulled a thread” in submitting the complaint to the IPT.
He said: “This issue has ultimately revealed a very ugly image of wide surveillance by the police in Belfast,” he said.
Describing the PSNI process to use monitoring against a person suspected of the document, Bernie said it is “like a story from Line of Duty or a kind of Kafkaesque.”
He added: “What we discovered in thousands of disclosure pages is that PSNI was seeking to obtain support from the Capital Police dating back to 2011 in order to scan communications information to reporters in Northern Ireland.
“Over a period of four months in 2011, more than 4000 phone calls and text messages were monitored through MET at the request of PSNI.
“Many of these phone calls and messages were between the BBC journalists.
“Basically, the UK police force was spying on the state broadcaster, BBC, its journalists and the participation of illegal monitoring data with at least two UK police forces, PSNI and Durham Constabulary, who also participated in our arrest.”
Fears of treatment of journalists in all fields in the United Kingdom are related to “
The current PSNI president, Constable John Potcher, announced an independent review last year, headed by Angus McCallo K.
But Bernie said that the scope of this review was “very narrow.”
He said: “We believe that this is not only an issue related to Northern Ireland, we believe it relates to all areas in the United Kingdom,” he said.
“David Davis, who supported us throughout the case, was very concerned about what IPT learned from all the UK police forces to say,” Did you do the same as PSNI? ‘
As David said, he obtained what he described as the response of “dead bats” from all the police forces, he mainly says nothing.
“This is worrying. It is clear that it raises doubts about what is going on all over the UK, not only in Belfast.”
“The main issue is that this is related to the broader treatment of journalists and not only its headquarters in Northern Ireland.
“While this is the Northern Ireland Committee, it is concerned about every member of Parliament.”
Bernie said that only a full public investigation “could” reach the bottom “of this practice.
He said: “All you will know that you have contacts with journalists, all you will know has contacts with journalists, you are all talking to journalists on a daily basis. This information is now in the hands of PSNI.
“PSNI knows what journalists speak to what politicians are, and we feel that this is an attack on democracy.
“This is not just an issue related to the journalistic community … whether it is politicians, lawyers, activists and journalists, we feel that it is a much broader societal issue and that is why it needs general investigation.”
“The police must be kept, to follow the rules. We who broke the law,” McFari said.
“The police have been seriously undermined and damaged.
“Trefor did not do it, SEAMUS didn’t do it, I didn’t do it. Psny was.”
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