Journalist between a rock and a hard place

Published on 15 June 2009 at 13:10

The traditionally conservative Irish Independent is defending the cause of journalist Suzanne Breen who recently interviewed members of the Real IRA, the dissident group responsible for the murder of two British soldiers in March. Ordered by the Northern Irish police (PSNI), to reveal her source, Breen now faces imprisonment. And also death threats from the Real IRA.

In a further twist, the son of former Unionist leader Ian Paisley has been summoned by a tribunal investigating official collusion in the 1997 murder in Northern Ireland’s Maze Prison of loyalist leader Billy Wright. Paisley Junior has refused to disclose the name of a prison officer who informed him that documents and records for the relevant period had been officially destroyed. “There will be a different class of prisoner in Northern (Ireland) jails over the next few months,” the daily observes.

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