Ex-Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams wins BBC libel case

Ex-Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams wins BBC libel case

Former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has won his libel case against the BBC, and has been awarded 100,000 euros ($113,000) in damages

Former Irish republican leader Gerry Adams won a libel case against the BBC on Friday, and was awarded 100,000 euros ($113,000) in damages over a report containing allegations he was involved in killing a British spy.

The BBC Northern Ireland "Spotlight" investigation broadcast included an anonymous allegation that Adams gave final approval for the 2006 murder of Denis Donaldson, a former official in the pro-Irish unity Sinn Fein party Adams once led.

A jury in Dublin ruled that the 2016 programme containing the allegation was libellous. 

Adams, 76, had said earlier he would give any damages to "good causes" if he won.

At a press conference in 2005, Adams revealed that Donaldson spied for the British intelligence agency MI5. 

The 55-year-old Donaldson, who later admitted working as a police and British agent, was found shot dead months later in County Donegal, where he lived close to the Northern Ireland border.

In 2009, dissident Irish republican paramilitary group the Real IRA claimed responsibility for the murder.

The BBC programme claimed the killing was the work of the Provisional IRA, and featured an anonymous testimony that claimed the murder was approved by the political and military leadership of the IRA and that Adams "gives the final say".

The BBC argued that it acted in "good faith", that its programme was "fair and reasonable" and in the public interest, and that the allegation was supported by five other sources.

Adams brought the case in Dublin as the Spotlight programme could be watched in Ireland, where it was seen by about 16,000 people.

An online article also had some 700 hits in Ireland during a 14-month period after its publication in September 2016.

- 'Grievous smear' -

The jury was asked to decide whether the words in the documentary and the online article could be taken to mean that Adams had sanctioned and approved Donaldson's murder.

The BBC argued the words were presented as allegations while Adams' side claimed the accusations were put forward as fact and were a "grievous smear" and defamatory.

Adams also argued the BBC broke its reporting rules and that he suffered "an unjustified attack" by the BBC.

The case at Dublin's High Court lasted four weeks and included 15 days of evidence from 10 witnesses, including Adams and BBC reporter Jennifer O'Leary.

In total, more than 3,600 people were killed during Northern Ireland's sectarian conflict known as the "Troubles", which largely ended after a 1998 peace accord.

Adams became president of Sinn Fein -- the paramilitary IRA's political wing during the Troubles -- in 1983, and served as MP from 1983 to 1992, and again from 1997 to 2011 before sitting in the Irish parliament between 2011 and 2020.

In 2018 he stepped down as leader of Sinn Fein and has always denied being a member of the IRA.

pmu/jkb/jm

Originally published as Ex-Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams wins BBC libel case