2 October 2001
ASSASSINATION OF JOURNALIST PROVOKES OUTRAGE
Martin O'Hagan, an investigative reporter for the Dublin-based "Sunday World", was shot and killed on 28 September 2001 by members of a Protestant paramilitary group, becoming the first journalist in Northern Ireland's 30 years of violence to fall victim to a terrorist attack, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Reporters sans frontières (RSF), and the International Press Institute (IPI).
The Red Hand Defenders, a group comprised of militants from the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), claimed responsibility for the murder, which took place as O'Hagan and his wife were walking home from a pub in the town of Lurgan. According to IPI, a gunman fired six shots from a passing car, killing O'Hagan instantly. His wife was unhurt.
The killing takes place amidst an official ceasefire currently being observed by both UDA and LVF, according to IPI. IFJ called on authorities to bring the killers to justice and "remove the scourge of terrorism from Irish life."
It added: "For all the talk of peace, investigative journalists and courageous reporters like O'Hagan remain in the frontline of a war against truth and honesty."
IFJ notes that O'Hagan had been working on an extensive investigation into links between Loyalist terrorist groups and security forces, while IPI cites officials saying that the reporter was probably targeted because he had been investigating LVF's drug dealing activities.
In 1993, O'Hagan was forced to leave Ireland for his own safety after receiving death threats from Loyalists. According to Agence France-Presse, LVF founder Billy Wright tried to have him killed after O'Hagan appeared as a witness in a libel case that involved suspected links between Protestant paramilitary groups and the police in the 1980s.
For more information, see www.ifj.org, www.freemedia.at and www.rsf.org.
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