Ex–Sinn Féin Leader Gerry Adams Wins Libel Suit Against BBC

Former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has won a libel case against the BBC over allegations that he authorized the killing of an informant within the Irish republican movement, Associated Press (AP) reporter Jill Lawless wrote.

The decision came after nearly seven hours of deliberation following a month-long trial. I Photo: Sinn Féin

A jury at Dublin’s High Court ruled in Adams’ favor, awarding him €100,000 ($113,000) in damages.

The decision came after nearly seven hours of deliberation following a month-long trial. Jurors rejected the BBC’s defense that its reporting was done in good faith and was "fair and reasonable."

The case centered on a decade-old documentary and accompanying online article that claimed Adams had sanctioned the 2006 murder of Denis Donaldson, a longtime Sinn Féin official who had admitted in 2005 to being a British informant.

Donaldson was later killed in his rural Irish cottage. A Real IRA splinter group claimed responsibility in 2009, but Irish police investigations remain open.