Boston College has again been ordered to hand over interviews it conducted with a convicted IRA terrorist to UK authorities after an appeal against the release was thrown out.
The ruling on Friday by the 1st US circuit court of appeal confirmed an earlier decision by district court judge William Young in relation to car bomber Dolours Price, who spoke to researchers on condition that the information would not be released in her lifetime.
But following the latest development in a lengthy legal battle, the material will now be handed over to Northern Ireland police by next month.
Recorded between 2001 and 2006, interviews with several former and serving Irish Republican Army (IRA) members formed the backbone of an oral history project at the college.
The conversations were taped under the proviso that they would not be released until the participant had died, with some interviewees citing fears that the stories could lead to reprisals.
But the transcripts are wanted by Northern Ireland police in relation to an investigation into the 1972 abduction and killing of Jean McConville. The Belfast mother of 10 had been accused of being an informant by the IRA and was murdered, some have claimed, on the order of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams. Adams has denied any link.
Boston College didn't appeal Young's ruling on Price. But The Belfast Project director Ed Moloney and ex-IRA gunman Anthony McIntyre, who conducted the interviews, filed a lawsuit challenging the decision.
Their attorney argued that McIntyre and others who were part of The Belfast Project would be branded informants and faced "the real risk of physical harm" if the interviews were turned over.
He also said it could have a chilling effect on other academic research projects.
But on Friday, the appeals court ruled that the two men had no right to interfere with the police request, made under a treaty between the United States and United Kingdom that requires both sides to aid each other's criminal investigations.
It added that criminal investigations take precedence over academic study.
"The choice to investigate criminal activity belongs to the government and is not subject to veto by academic researchers," the court wrote.
Boston College is still appealing Young's order regarding another subpoena, in which he said the school must turn over interviews with seven other former IRA members.
Attorney Jon Albano, who filed a brief on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union in support of Moloney and McIntyre, said the ruling was "not a good sign" for the college's pending appeal in regards to the other participants in the project.
Albano described the striking down of the Price appeal as disappointing.
"We were not saying that there was some kind of automatic absolute protection for academics, any more than for reporters," he said. "We were saying that if you look at the facts of this case, this is a case were Moloney and McIntyre actually deserve to be protected."
A spokesman for Boston College couldn't be reached Saturday for comment.
Its project was aimed at capturing for prosperity the testimonies of those involved in decades of violent unrest in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles.
Several US politicians – including senator John Kerry of Massachusetts and Charles Schumer of New York – have lobbied the state department on behalf of the institution's desire to have the interviews remained sealed.
Maloney has said he believes the recordings are explosive enough to damage Northern Ireland's unity government.
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