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January
2001
CHANGES
TO BIRW’S MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
Maureen Donnelly and Mary McKeone have resigned from the management committee, both of them having left London. We thank them most warmly for their contribution to our work and wish them well in the future. Taking their places are Sarah Cooke, who is the Director of the British Institute for Human Rights, and Marion Fitzpatrick, until recently the Director of the London Advice Services Alliance and now an administrator. They are both very welcome.
LICENCE
TO KILL
On 30th January Ulster Television’s Insight programme broadcast a documentary, Licence to Kill, about the Force Research Unit, which we have alleged targeted a number of people for murder, including Patrick Finucane, Patrick Hamill and Francisco Notorantonio. I participated in the programme, alongside a former FRU member and a number of people who believe their loved ones died because of FRU’s collusion with loyalist paramilitaries. The transcript of the programme is available at UTV’s website: http://www.insight.utvinternet.com (week 11).
GERARD
MAGEE
BIRW has been monitoring the case of Gerard Magee for many years. Last year, the European Court of Human Rights found that he had not received a fair trial because he had been denied access to his solicitor while being interrogated in Castlereagh holding centre, under a regime described by the Court as oppressive. As a result of the Court’s ruling, the Criminal Cases Review Commission referred his case back to the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal for reconsideration. His appeal was heard this month. Our thanks to Katie Wiik for attending the hearing as our independent observer. Judgment was reserved, but we hope that this marks the end of Gerard Magee’s long struggle for justice. During the hearing, Lord Chief Justice Carswell dismissed BIRW’s views on the human rights aspects of the case as “opinions”, suggesting that one might as well read the Belfast Telegraph. We have decided to take that as a compliment!
COLM
MURPHY
Hearings have begun in the Special Criminal Court on behalf on Colm Murphy, who is charged with the Omagh bombing. His lawyers are asking the Court to hold the BBC’s Panorama programme and the Daily Mail in contempt of court because they named Colm Murphy as being responsible for the bombing. Our thanks to Tessa Robinson for observing the hearing on behalf.
DIARMUID
O’NEILL
We have sent a second report concerning the death of Diarmuid O’Neill to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions. Diarmuid O’Neill was shot by a special police unit during an arrest operation against an IRA bombing team in London in 1996. He and his associates had been under intense police surveillance for several weeks before the arrest and were unarmed at the time of the police raid. Our report is based on information that emerged at the inquest and at the trial of his associates and concludes that the killing was unjustified and that Diarmuid O’Neill was deprived of his right to life and the right to a fair trial.
SUPPORT
FOR OUR WORK
I am delighted to acknowledge a donation of £2,500 from Two Garden Court Chambers. This is the third of four annual grants. We are most grateful to them for their consistent support for our work.
We should also like to thank all those who contributed to our Human Rights Day appeal, which so far has raised £2,840. If you would like to make a contribution, it is not too late!
BILLY
GORMAN
We have compiled a dossier setting out the obstacles put in the path of Billy Gorman’s quest for justice by the RUC. The dossier supports his claim for compensation for the many years he spent in prison for the murder of a police officer, a crime of which he was acquitted by the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal last year after a referral back by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
BLOODY
SUNDAY
On 13th January I attended a meeting of the Bloody Sunday Trust in Derry and on 20th January I spoke at a London commemoration of Bloody Sunday. The Bloody Sunday Inquiry recommenced on15th January. Our observer Catherine McKenna’s weekly reports on the proceedings are available on our website. There have been some unsettling developments at the hearings recently. Counsel to the Tribunal, Christopher Clarke QC, has, quite inappropriately in our opinion, been questioning civilian eyewitnesses about their knowledge of the IRA. Counsel for some of the soldiers, Edwin Glasgow QC, has been questioning them about a mythical 34 “victims” of Bloody Sunday, who he suggests were IRA gunmen who were shot by the army but whose deaths and injuries were ultimately concealed. We fear that the victims of Bloody Sunday are not being shown the sympathy and respect that has been accorded to other victims in other public inquiries.
ROSEMARY
NELSON
On 31st January I met Colin Port, Deputy Chief Constable of Norfolk, who is heading the police investigation into Lurgan solicitor Rosemary Nelson’s murder in March 1999 to discuss progress in the case nearly two years on.
IRISH
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
We have written to the Irish government urging them to regularise the appointment procedures for their new Human Rights Commission, after what can only be described as a fiasco. We were pleased when the government appointed an independent panel of advisers to recommend the membership of the first set of commissioners, although we would have preferred to have seen a fully transparent and open application procedure. However, we were dismayed when the government then rejected all but one of the panel’s preferred eight candidates, even going so far as to reject one candidate whom the government had nominated as a candidate for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. Our dismay was shared by the human rights community in Ireland, and we are glad that after intensive efforts on their part a compromise now appears to have been reached whereby six of the eight most highly recommended candidates will sit on the Commission.
CODES
OF PRACTICE UNDER THE TERRORISM ACT
We have submitted comments on the codes of practice on detention, treatment, questioning and identification of those arrested under the new, permanent Terrorism Act, which comes into force next month. We have consistently argued against the need for permanent anti-terrorism laws.
INQUEST
ADVISORY PANEL
I was pleased to be asked to join Inquest’s advisory panel, in which capacity I have contributed some comments on plans to reform the system of police complaints in England & Wales.
FUNDING
FOR NGOS
On 25th January I ran a lively session on funding for NGOs as my contribution to the MA in Understanding Human Rights at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, where I am a Visiting Fellow.
BOOK
LAUNCH
On 29th January I attended the launch in the House of Commons of a new book by Professors John Jackson and Sean Doran. The Judicial Role in Criminal Proceedings, published by Hart Publishing Ltd, is a collection of essays arising out a conference held in Belfast in April 1988, just after the Good Friday peace agreement was struck. It includes some notable contributions, not least from Justice Albie Sachs and the editors themselves.
CONGRATULATIONS
TO LISA
Many
congratulations to one of our last year’s interns, Lisa Yu, who has been awarded
one of only twelve George J Mitchell Scholarships to allow her to study in Northern
Ireland. We were pleased to support
her application for this prestigious scholarship.
Jane Winter,
Director,
31st January 2001
For Peace Justice & Human Rights
