Threatened Irish journalist refused protection

A journalist with the Irish newspaper, the Sunday World, has been refused special protection by the government despite receiving a death threat that the police regard as serious. It is the third such threat to the reporter, whose identity is being concealed, in four years. A journalist with the same paper, Martin O'Hagan, was shot dead five years ago. Two human rights organisations, Index on Censorship and Article 19, have criticised the government's failure to act, but Paul Goggins, the Northern Ireland security minister, has explained that the journalist isn't employed in one of the occupations that merits special protection measures. (Via The Observer)