Former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams wins libel lawsuit against BBC

LONDON: Former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has won a libel suit against the BBC over a claim he authorized the killing of an informant.

A jury at the High Court in Dublin ruled in Adams' favor and he was awarded 100,000 euros in damages.

Adams sued Britain's public broadcaster over a claim in a documentary and online article that he sanctioned the killing of Denis Donaldson, a long-serving Sinn Fein official who acknowledged in 2005 that he had worked for British intelligence. He was shot dead at his cottage in rural Ireland four months later.

In the BBC program broadcast in September 2016, an anonymous source claimed the shooting was sanctioned by the political and military leadership of the IRA and that Adams gave "the final say."

Adams denies involvement and called the allegation a "grievous smear."