DUBLIN: A defamation case brought by former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams against the BBC over a program alleging he was involved in killing a British spy opened in Dublin on Monday.
A BBC Northern Ireland “Spotlight” investigation broadcast in 2016 alleged that Adams sanctioned the 2006 murder of former Sinn Fein official Denis Donaldson.
At a press conference in 2005, Adams revealed that Donaldson spied for the British intelligence agency MI5.
The 55-year-old, who later admitted working as a British agent, was found shot dead 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 program featured testimonies that claimed Adams sanctioned the killing.
Adams denies the accusations and is suing the BBC for damages over the “Spotlight” episode and an article on the BBC website that he alleges are defamatory.
The case at Dublin’s High Court is expected to last around three weeks.
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.
In 2018 Adams stepped down as leader of Sinn Fein – the pro-Irish unity paramilitary IRA’s political wing during the Troubles – and has always denied being a member of the IRA.
Gerry Adams’ defamation case against BBC opens in Dublin
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Gerry Adams’ defamation case against BBC opens in Dublin
- A BBC Northern Ireland ‘Spotlight’ investigation broadcast in 2016 alleged that Adams sanctioned the 2006 murder of former Sinn Fein official Denis Donaldson
US border agent shoots and wounds two people in Portland
- The Portland shooting unfolded Thursday afternoon as US Border Patrol agents were conducting a targeted vehicle stop, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement
A US immigration agent shot and wounded a man and a woman in Portland, Oregon, authorities said on Thursday, leading local officials to call for calm given public outrage over the ICE shooting death of a Minnesota woman a day earlier.
“We understand the heightened emotion and tension many are feeling in the wake of the shooting in Minneapolis, but I am asking the community to remain calm as we work to learn more,” Portland police chief Bob Day said in a statement.
The Portland shooting unfolded Thursday afternoon as US Border Patrol agents were conducting a targeted vehicle stop, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
The statement said the driver, a suspected Venezuelan gang member, attempted to “weaponize” his vehicle and run over the agents. In response, DHS said, “an agent fired a defensive shot” and the driver and a passenger drove away.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the circumstances of the incident.
Portland police said that the shooting took place near a medical clinic in eastern Portland. Six minutes after arriving at the scene and determining federal agents were involved in the shooting, police were informed that two people with gunshot wounds — a man and a woman — were asking for help at a location about 2 miles (3 km) to the northeast of the medical clinic.
Police said they applied tourniquets to the man and woman, who were taken to a hospital. Their condition was unknown.
The shooting came just a day after a federal agent from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a separate agency within the Department of Homeland Security, fatally shot a 37-year-old mother of three in her car in Minneapolis.
That shooting has prompted two days of protests in Minneapolis. Officers from both ICE and Border Patrol have been deployed in cities across the United States as part of Republican President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
While the aggressive enforcement operations have been cheered by the president’s supporters, Democrats and civil rights activists have decried the posture as an unnecessary provocation.
US officials contend criminal suspects and anti-Trump activists have increasingly used their cars as weapons, though video evidence has sometimes contradicted their claims.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said in a statement his city was now grappling with violence at the hands of federal agents and that “we cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts.”
He called on ICE to halt all its operations in the city until an investigation can be completed.
“Federal militarization undermines effective, community-based public safety, and it runs counter to the values that define our region,” Wilson said. “I will use every legal and legislative tool available to protect our residents’ civil and human rights.”
