{"id":153862,"date":"2025-06-03T04:14:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T04:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/153862\/"},"modified":"2025-06-03T04:14:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T04:14:12","slug":"death-threats-against-northern-ireland-journalists-increasing-says-amnesty-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/153862\/","title":{"rendered":"Death threats against Northern Ireland journalists increasing, says Amnesty \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Journalists in Northern Ireland<\/a> are facing a sustained campaign of violent threats from paramilitaries, making it the most dangerous place in the UK to be a reporter, according to Amnesty International<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Death threats \u2013 including under-car booby trap bombs \u2013 issued to crime journalists have increased in recent years, with repeated home visits by police warning they are at risk.<\/p>\n

Others have been told they will be shot or stabbed and given 48-hour ultimatums to leave the country.<\/p>\n

Interviews carried out by Amnesty with 22 journalists uncovered more than 70 incidents of intimidation or attacks in the North since the start of 2019.<\/p>\n

Loyalist and dissident republican paramilitaries as well as organised crime groups are behind most of the incidents.<\/p>\n

Journalists most at risk have their homes protected by bulletproof windows and doors with alarms linked to police stations.<\/p>\n

One reporter was visited by police<\/a> nine times in just under a year to inform her that her life was at risk. A pipe bomb was placed close to her home after a threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral journalists report that they are receiving more threats in recent years than ever before. It goes beyond threats: they are physically attacked,\u201d according to the Amnesty report entitled Occupational Hazard? Threats and Violence against Journalists in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

The report, published on Tuesday, says frustration with the police response means some journalists have stopped reporting the crimes to the authorities, citing \u201ctime-consuming processes and lack of action or positive outcome\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Lyra McKee: A bright star, fallen, sacrificed to bigotry and hatredOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

To date, two journalists have been murdered in Northern Ireland. Investigative reporter Martin O\u2019Hagan of the Sunday World was killed<\/a> close to his Lurgan home by loyalist paramilitaries in 2001 and Lyra McKee<\/a> died after being struck by a bullet fired at police during rioting in Derry in 2019. Dissident republican group, the New IRA, admitted responsibility.<\/p>\n

A photographer was shot in the thigh covering a riot in Belfast in 2011.<\/p>\n

Concerns are raised in the report about a lack of prosecutions. Amnesty is calling on the State to create a \u201csafe environment where journalists can work freely and report without fear of reprisals\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is currently failing to do so,\u201d said Amnesty International UK\u2019s Northern Ireland director, Patrick Corrigan.<\/p>\n

\u201cJournalists are being threatened, attacked and even killed for shining a light on paramilitary groups and others who seek to exert control through violence. This creates a climate of fear that many assumed was consigned to history when the Good Friday Agreement was signed,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Yet, he said, there has not been a single prosecution for threats against journalists from paramilitary groups. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Lyra McKee: Lost Girl of the TroublesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sense of impunity only emboldens those behind the threats. When journalists are under attack, press freedom is under attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the report\u2019s recommendations is the establishment of a new media safety group, with representatives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), Public Prosecution Service, media organisations and the National Union of Journalists to deliver a new journalist safety strategy.<\/p>\n

The PSNI should also review its procedural response to threats and attacks against journalists and \u201cconduct investigations capable of leading to successful prosecutions\u201d, the report advises.<\/p>\n

A Police Ombudsman\u2019s report examining the original police investigation into O\u2019Hagan\u2019s murder is expected to be published this year. Amnesty recommends the UK government should order a public inquiry into the killing if \u201cserious failings or wrongdoing by the police\u201d is found by the watchdog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Journalists in Northern Ireland are facing a sustained campaign of violent threats from paramilitaries, making it the most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[65498,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-153862","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-amnesty-international","9":"tag-northern-ireland","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114617493971020995","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}