24 Sep KRW Law Reaction to the McCullough Review
“Routine surveillance on lawyers and journalists can never be normalised or accepted. The structural inability of Angus McCullough’s review to even look at the covert operations of MI5, means there is a huge deficit in understanding the scale of the issue. We support calls by Amnesty, NUJ and CAJ for a full public inquiry into the totality of state surveillance of sensitive professions.”
“Spying on lawyers in Court buildings is extraordinary, and PSNI officers breached their authorization to do it, lied to superiors about it, and it was only spotted because officers were seen on SightLink
How can lawyers give advice to clients on difficult issues at Court (e.g. a plea, or ask client to be open with them) if Court houses are subject to surveillance.”
“In relation to the news that PSNI conducted unlawful surveillance on investigative journalist Donal McIntyre. It beggars belief that the PSNI allocated time and resources to spying on Donal McIntyre, when there are so many unanswered questions about what happened to Noah and so many ongoing concerns about the focus and determination of the police investigation into his death.”
Niall Murphy
Solicitor for journalist Trevor Birney