Justice Watch Ireland statement from Gerry Conlon regarding Stephen Murneys current Trial Today Stephen Murney goes on trial in Belfast accused of essentially taking photographs of republican protests in which members of the P.S.N.I were also photographed leading to the accusation and then charges against Stephen,for which the crown allege were or could be used to aid or be of use to further terrorist activity. The photos that were taken were also taken by photographers from leading newspaper here and those photos published by those newspapers. A further charge of having items that could be used to further terrorism,in fact turned out to be a childs ballbearing gun and a bandsmans uniform. It all seems either ludicrous or deliberately malicious on behalf of the crown to decide on this course of action.Maybe the reason for the prosecution is that Murney who is a republican activist who by documenting police behaviour at protests has becoming a thorn in the side of the authorities in that photographs instantly convey to the public the real role of both police and protester when conflict occurs. I remember watching films such as The Killing Fields and Salvidor were the photographers and their photos were the only source of evidence to the outside world as to proof as to what was happening in those countries at that time.And we,especially in whats known as western society rightly hailed those photographers as brave and heroic for bringing to our attention what was happening in those places. I am not saying for one minute what happened there is happening here,but what im saying is,no one is above the law be it protester,activist or police,everyone is accountable for their actions. We need transparency when dealing with authority,and we needs political activists document and have the freedom to record events as we are alleged to live in a society with freedom speech and freedom of expression. Gerry Conlon JWI Co-founder
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 10:22:00 +0000
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