Monday 8 June 2009

Double demo in support of Suzanne Breen

The NUJ is organising demonstrations in Belfast and London to coincide with Thursday’s court hearing where police are applying for Sunday Tribune journalist Suzanne Breen to be ordered to hand over source material related to the Real IRA.
The protests will be at at 9.15am outside The Laganside Courts, 45 Oxford Street, Belfast, and The Northern Ireland Office, 11 Millbank, London – where a petition containing 5,000 signatures supporting Suzanne Breen's refusal to give up source material will be handed in.
Jeremy Dear, NUJ general secretary, said: “Suzanne is sticking to the NUJ’s Code of Conduct and we support her 100 percent.
“If journalists give up their sources to the state it will stop whistleblowers coming forward and make it impossible for the media to scrutinise those in power.
“It is also a matter of honour and personal safety for journalists who give their word to contacts that sources will be treated as confidential.
“I call on the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to stop this legal action which is an attempt to intimidate Suzanne and a waste of time and money.”

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