4 October 2006
JOURNALISTS FACE DEATH THREATS
Five years after investigative reporter Martin O'Hagan was gunned down in Northern Ireland, his killers remain at large and threats of violence against journalists have quadrupled, a new report by Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) has found.
The National Union of Journalists' (NUJ) Belfast chapter recently sent a protest letter to the local police ombudsman expressing its grave concern over the lack of justice in O'Hagan's murder.
O'Hagan was killed on 28 September 2001 in what many believe was retaliation for his reporting on the criminal activities of paramilitary groups and on allegations of police collusion with paramilitaries. He was the first journalist killed in Northern Ireland in 40 years, and his murder sent shockwaves through the journalism community.
RSF says that despite considerable evidence that a paramilitary group was responsible for the murder, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has failed to solve the murder. There have been repeated allegations that the police failed to vigorously pursue the killers for fear of exposing their informers or agents within the paramilitary group. The PSNI says it will conduct a review of the investigation and discuss the outcome with O'Hagan's family.
RSF says the failure to bring O'Hagan's murderers to justice has fostered a culture of impunity in Northern Ireland. Roughly a dozen journalists have received death threats this year for their reporting, compared to three in 2001. In 2005, one paramilitary group unhappy with "Sunday World's" reporting, set fire to copies of the newspaper at a newsstand, nearly killing two people.
There have also been reports of a growing sense of antipathy among certain politicians and establishment figures towards people branded "Journalists Against the Peace Process", notes RSF. These are reporters who seek to unearth inconvenient truths that may be uncomfortable for leading figures of the peace process.
Visit these links:
- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19011
- IFEX Alerts on Northern Ireland: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/50103/
- NUJ: http://media.gn.apc.org/ohagan1.html
- Pat Finucane Centre: http://www.serve.com/pfc/
- About Northern Ireland: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland
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