-Caveat Lector-
> August 19, 1999
>
> The Strange Case of Ed Moloney
>
>
> Back in February of 1989 a Belfast lawyer called Pat Finucane was
> murdered by Protestant gunmen. Finucane was well-known for having
> defended members of the Irish Republican Army, and he'd had
> plenty of run-ins with police in the Royal Ulster Constabulary,
> also with the British Army. It was not long before credible
> accusations began to surface that both the RUC and the army had
> colluded with Finucane's killers, who belonged to the
> paramilitary Ulster Defense Association (UDA).
>
> One journalist who made spectacular headway in tracing state
> sponsorship of Finucane's murder was Ed Moloney, currently
> Northern editor of the Dublin-based Sunday Tribune. Down the
> years Moloney, now 50, has built up a fine reputation. He's been
> Northern Irish editor of the Irish Times and has contributed to
> the Guardian, BBC, the Washington Post and other publications.
> But because of his work in the aftermath of the Finucane killing,
> Moloney now faces the possibility of being thrown into prison for
> defying a court order to hand over working notes to the police.
> Unless his lawyers get the order thrown out, Moloney could be
> prosecuted under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, a statute
> rushed through the British Parliament in the mid-1970s, giving
> the police and courts even vaster summary powers than they
> normally enjoy. In this event he'll face a no-jury trial, as the
> first journalist to be prosecuted in such a way. He could be
> given an unlimited fine, plus anywhere from six months to five
> years in prison. Or he could be convicted of contempt of court,
> and given an unlimited prison sentence.
>
> Why would the security forces and judicial apparatus of Northern
> Ireland want to risk international condemnation for their
> onslaught on a journalist? The reasons are devious, part of a
> desperate attempt to salvage the reputation of these same
> security forces, most notably the RUC.
>
> After Finucane's murder in 1989, Moloney conducted a series of
> lengthy interviews with William Stobie, a quartermaster in the
> Protestant paramilitary group responsible for the killing. Stobie
> told Moloney that he was an agent working for the RUC and had
> given the RUC advance notice of the operation that ultimately led
> to the murder of Finucane. As quartermaster, Stobie had provided
> the killers with their weapons.
>
> Stobie volunteered this information to Moloney on condition that
> it not be published, since its disclosure would endanger his
> life. He told Moloney he wanted his account on record in case
> anything happened to him. He said that his RUC Special Branch
> handlers regarded him as a loose cannon and were setting him up
> for assassination by his loyalist colleagues. He also claimed
> that the RUC Special Branch had planted guns in his home, and
> indeed he had been charged with possession. But after Stobie
> threatened that he would reveal in court that he had forewarned
> the police about the murder plot, the legal authorities quietly
> dropped those charges. It was in this atmosphere of fear and
> intimidation that Stobie had gone to Moloney.
>
> The years rolled by and then, earlier this year, the Finucane
> case turned red hot. A London group called British-Irish Rights
> Watch sent a report to the Irish government on the Finucane case.
> In the file thus submitted was documentary evidence of British
> Army collusion in the Finucane killing. The report itself has not
> yet been published, but the Irish government felt sufficiently
> uneasy about its assertions to call upon Tony Blair's government
> to open a public inquiry.
>
> The RUC faced an immensely damaging probe at a time when its very
> future was up for review under the terms of the Good Friday peace
> agreement. At this point Sir Ronnie Flanagan, head of the RUC,
> called in a senior Scotland Yard police officer, John Stevens,
> and ordered him to track down Finucane's killers. Lo and behold,
> the first man arrested as a consequence of Stevens's recruitment
> was William Stobie!
>
> Targeting Stobie was an adroit move. By fingering him for
> Finucane's murder, the RUC was thus placing the whole Finucane
> case sub judice. This stopped the campaign for a public inquiry
> in its tracks, where it will remain for at least a year, until
> after Stobie's trial. Furthermore, Stobie, a potential key
> witness against the RUC, is stained with criminal charges.
> Another plus for the RUC is that the Finucane scandal cannot now
> figure in the review of the RUC's future that is currently under
> way.
>
> The second person Stevens moved against was Ed Moloney, who
> finally wrote up Stobie's story from his old notes, publishing
> his report in the Sunday Tribune this past June 27, three days
> after Stobie was charged with murder. It's obvious that Moloney's
> explosive story infuriated the authorities, who have responded by
> demanding his notes and threatening him with imprisonment.
>
> We talked on the phone to Ed Moloney in Belfast in mid-August, as
> he awaited a court hearing to try to overturn the court order
> seeking his notes. "There are a number of reasons why I can't
> hand these documents over," he said. "First and most important,
> our job as journalists is to report the news and analyze events.
> It is not to gather evidence for the police or the state. And if
> the authorities were to win this case, the precedent for all
> journalists in the UK and in Ireland would be disastrous." The
> two states and societies are so intertwined that a decision of
> this nature using a British statute would have an immediate
> consequence in the Republic. "The other important point is that
> if I was to hand over this material, I would in effect lose my
> livelihood. Who could trust me and confide in me with any
> confidence?"
>
> If all the circumstances of Finucane's killing see daylight, the
> pressure for a full public inquiry will be irresistible. Not only
> was Stobie informing the RUC about the planned murder but a UDA
> officer advising the gunmen was also working secretly as an
> intelligence agent of the British Army, a fact that emerged
> separately, not long after Finucane's murder. Two of the major
> players in the murder were thus working for two state security
> agencies. The stakes are very high, not least for Ed Moloney, who
> should get all the support we can muster. Make your views clear
> to Northern Ireland Secretary Marjorie Mowlam, Stormont Castle,
> Belfast, Northern Ireland. CP
Foregoing from www.counterpunch.com
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