Director's Report August/September 2000

Home Next Previous

August/September 2000

Everyone was taken by surprise by the decision in August by judge Sir Edward Somers to resign from the Bloody Sunday Inquiry. He has now been replaced by John L Toohey, a retired Australian High Court judge. Owing to this change, the hearings will re-commence later than expected, on 13th November. Our observer, Catherine McKenna, will be back making weekly reports on the hearings, which will be available on our website.

Recently, an audio-tape has come to light which appears to record army telephone conversations on Bloody Sunday itself. Soldiers can be heard saying that the "wrong people" had been killed, and commenting on the attitude of General Ford, the Commander of Land Forces. If genuine, this looks like being a vital piece of evidence.

British Irish RIGHTS WATCH has submitted a detailed response to the report of the team charged with reviewing the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland, as part of the Good Friday Agreement. Our thanks to John Gayer for his work on this. Although we have welcomed the emphasis in the report on the part that human rights should play in criminal justice, we have expressed concern that some of their recommendations, for example on the appointment of judges, give too large a role to political figures. We have opted for a Ministry of Justice and an independent prosecution service, to be subject to a Criminal Justice Inspectorate, with minimal political input.

On 4th September Prime Minister Tony Blair met the Finucane family, at the request of the Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern. I also attended the meeting, and presented the Prime Minister with personal copies of our two substantial reports on the involvement of British army intelligence in the murders of Patrick Finucane and, we fear, many others, during the late 1980s. We also gave him a copy of the legal opinion obtained by Amnesty International that shows why there should be a public inquiry into our allegations and explains why such an inquiry would not conflict with the police investigation that is currently under way. Geraldine Finucane told the Prime Minister that, while she understood that his government had no hand in her husband's murder, it would fall to them to decide whether or not to hold a public inquiry. Tony Blair agreed to reconsider the situation and his response is currently awaited.

In the meantime, the charges against loyalist William Stobie (who admits supplying the weapons in the Finucane murder but says he informed his Special Branch handlers that a murder was about to take place) have been commuted from murder to aiding and abetting.

In 1997, I acted as an expert witness in the extradition trial of Kevin Barry Artt, Pol Brennan and Terence Kirby in California. On 29th September, the Secretary of State announced that, in view of the early prison release scheme the government would no longer pursue outstanding extradition cases relating to the conflict. The announcement will come as a great relief to the families of these three men and several others in similar situations.

In August this year, I again acted as an expert witness in the application for asylum by Malachy McAllister, who remained in the USA illegally after fleeing a loyalist attack on his home in Belfast. The trial took place in New Jersey, and the outcome is awaited.

I have recently completed a critique of the 1999 State Department's country report on the UK, commissioned by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. I also met with representatives of the American Embassy in London to discuss next year's report, insofar as it deals with Northern Ireland.

The Policing Bill has yet to complete its passage through parliament. In August I met with John Mackey of Congressman Ben Gilman's office, to brief him on our concerns. On 22nd September the Commission on Security and Co-operation in Europe held hearings in Washington on the implementation of the Patten proposals. The recent electoral reversal for the Ulster Unionist Party has prompted many unionist calls for further weakening of Patten's recommendations, proving, if perversely, the centrality of policing to the peace process itself.

On 8th September Seamus Treacy and Barry Macdonald finally took silk, after their successful challenge to the wording of the declaration made by Queens Counsel upon taking office.

The Human Rights Act comes into force on 2nd October. On 30th September I attended a very useful conference in Belfast, organised jointly by the Bar Councils and Law Societies of Northern Ireland and England & Wales. The Act incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights into domestic law, and looks set to change the face of legal case law beyond recognition. It is a shame that the government did not take the opportunity to cancel its derogation from the Convention over prolonged detention for those arrested under emergency laws, and has not incorporated Article 13 of the Convention, which provides for effective remedies for human rights violations.

On 2nd September I attended a useful co-ordination meeting in Dublin with our sister NGOs, to discuss mutual concerns and strategies. Thanks are due to the Irish Council for Civil Liberties for their kind hospitality.

Over the summer we have been glad to welcome the following interns: Lisa Yu from the USA, Gaëlle Alary from France, and John Gayer from England. Our thanks to all of them for their contribution to our work.

Sadly, we also said farewell to Emma Gill, our administrative assistant, who has gone to take up a postgraduate course in media studies. We wish her well.

Jane Winter,
Director,
30th September 2000.

Home Next Previous

For Peace Justice & Human Rights

Site last updated 21 March, 2002 | ITSUVO |