UN Experts Raise Concerns Over PSNI Phone Data Access
UN human rights experts have indicated that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) may have "violated" international standards designed to protect lawyers when it obtained the phone data of two solicitors from Northern Ireland.
Chief Constable Jon Boutcher has previously issued an apology to the solicitors involved, Darragh Mackin and Peter Corrigan.
In September of last year, an independent report concluded that the authorisations for accessing their communications data in 2013 were granted on a "questionable" and "materially flawed" basis.
Mackin has stated that the PSNI's actions were unlawful and connected them to ongoing appeal proceedings involving two men convicted of murdering police officer Stephen Carroll in Craigavon in 2009.
He has publicly shared correspondence with the UK Government and two UN special rapporteurs: Margaret Satterthwaite, the special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, and Ana Brian Nougrères, the special rapporteur on the right to privacy.
This correspondence highlighted "serious concerns" regarding the PSNI's conduct.
The correspondence stated that the PSNI's actions "may amount to a violation of international standards protecting the right of lawyers to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference".
It further noted that the incident appears "to infringe upon the internationally recognised right to confidential communications between lawyers and their clients".
Mackin mentioned that the correspondence, which was sent in January, has yet to receive a response, and that legal action against the PSNI is under consideration.
The UN special rapporteurs requested additional information about the authorisations, including the specific time periods covered and the nature of the information collected. They also sought assurances regarding the protection of lawyers' rights.
Response from Solicitor Peter Corrigan
Peter Corrigan described the intervention by the UN special rapporteurs as "a welcome step".
He said, "The police are entrusted to uphold the law, but instead they have broken the law.
Today's intervention makes clear that no longer will the international human rights community accept the misuse of power directed at lawyers, simply because of the cases they do, or the clients they represent.
For too long the state has wrongly targeted lawyers in this jurisdiction for simply doing their job."
