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december
2000 Disappointingly,
the government has dismissed our report calling for a public inquiry into the
murder of Billy Wright in the Maze prison in 1977. They
say that because the perpetrators are known and have been brought to book there
is no need for an inquiry. We say
that serious errors of policy and lapses in security made his death predictable
and therefore preventable. We can
see no evidence that lessons have been learned in the wake of his murder and
the later murder of another prisoner, David Keys.
We also say that unless those lessons are learned there is real danger
of further violence in Maghaberry jail, where prisoners on all sides are expressing
fear for their safety. We will
continue to do everything in our power to pursue these issues. The response of the Irish government to our report is still
awaited.
The mounting evidence, much of it from former FRU employees, that British army intelligence operated a policy of collusion with loyalist paramilitaries to target British and Irish citizens for murder, has prompted us to send a very detailed confidential report to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, who monitors state sponsored violence. We are now aware of at least eight alleged victims of FRU’s activities, of whom Belfast lawyer Patrick Finucane was one of the most prominent, but we fear they may be just the tip of a much larger iceberg.
We have also sent a report to the Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression concerning the government’s attempts to gag a former FRU operative who has been critical of its methods. Arrested under the Official Secrets Act, he was kept on bail for almost a year before charges against him were dropped. During that time his house was burgled and documents stolen from his home mysteriously surfaced in civil proceedings against him in which the Ministry of Defence sought to prevent him from talking to journalists. At the same time that he was facing jail for allegedly breaching his duty of confidentiality to his former employers, the Stevens team, who are investigating our allegations against FRU, were actively seeking his co-operation. In the end, government attempts to suppress him and the journalists to whom he spoke have failed, but it was certainly not for want of trying.
We
were very pleased that President Clinton made time in his hectic schedule to
meet relatives of Rosemary Nelson, Robert Hamill, Patrick Finucane and other
victims during his whirlwind visit to Northern Ireland.
We were pleased to assist his staff by providing detailed briefing materials
on some of the cases.
On 8th December I travelled to Belfast to meet the police ombudsman, Nuala O’Loan. She and her team are making strenuous efforts to demonstrate their independence and their availability to all sections of the community. Her predecessor, the Independent Commission for Police Complaints, was severely handicapped by the fact that it had to use RUC officers to investigate complaints against their own colleagues. The ombudsman has her own investigators who have strong powers, including those of arrest, seizure of documents and weapons, and sealing the site of an incident. The ombudsman has a difficult balancing act to perform in that she needs to gain the confidence of both the public and the police. We wish her well in her difficult job and will, of course, be monitoring the performance of the new system for complaints against the police.
I am delighted to acknowledge two new donations this month. The John Merck Fund have made us a second grant of $25,000, for which we are extremely grateful, and we have received a further donation of $2,500 from our very dear friends the Dunfey family, under the auspices of the American Ireland Fund.
Our
annual report for the year 2000 has just been published and will soon be available
on our website.
We were very pleased to have John Gayer back with us for a few weeks. He has now left to take up his internship with Amnesty International in New York, where we wish him the very best of luck.
The compliments of the season to all our friends and supporters wherever you are, and may the new year bring you peace and justice.
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For Peace Justice & Human Rights
