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OCTOBER 2004
government fails to keep its word to the nelson, hamill and wright families
In July this year I travelled to Belfast and attended meetings with civil servants from the Department of Constitutional Affairs and the Northern Ireland Office and members of the families of Rosemary Nelson, Robert Hamill and Billy Wright. CAJ and the families’ laywers were also present, and Jeffrey Donaldson MP attended the Wright meeting. At the meetings, the families were given a clear assurance that they would have an opportunity to meet the judges chairing their inquiry, to put their views about the terms of reference for and the conduct of the inquiries directly to the relevant judge. Now, the government appears to have broken those promises, and has said that the families cannot expect preferential treatment over any other parties. This attitude ignores two important matters. First and foremost, the families are not only parties to the inquiries, they are the victims of the crimes which the inquiries will investigate. As such, they have a right to be involved in the process. Secondly, the Northern Ireland Office is apparently meeting the judges, giving them preferential access even though in at least two of the three cases (Nelson and Wright) they have many questions to answer about collusion. Letters of protest have resulted in an offer from the civil servants to act as intermediaries on behalf of the judges, an offer which the families have understandably rejected. It remains to be seen whether they will be allowed to tell the judges face-to-face of their concerns.
david wright meets hUgh orde
On 4th October I accompanied David Wright, father of Billy Wright, to a meeting with Hugh Orde, the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. This was a meeting that David Wright had been seeking over a number of years. We left the Chief Constable with a list of questions arising out of Judge Cory’s report which only the police can answer, such as whether they passed on to the prison authorities specific information they had that INLA intended to murder Billy Wright and had the means to do so. We believe that David Wright is entitled to answers to those questions now, bit if the PSNI is not willing to reply to him, they will certainly have to answer to the pubic inquiry.
ta0iseach repeats irish commitment to public inquiry for finucanes
Bertie Ahern, the Irish Taoiseach, met the Finucane family, their lawyer and myself on 21st October in Dublin. He reiterated Irish support for a full public inquiry into the murder of Patrick Finucane and promised the family that the Irish government will be with them every step of the way in their fight to achieve that end.
UN Committee against Torture
During the month we sent a written submission to the UN Committee against Torture, which will be considering the Fourth Periodic report of the UK on 17th-18th November. Article 19 of the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment requires all states parties to submit reports on the measures they have taken to give effect to the Convention’s provisions every four years. This is the third occasion on which BIRW have submitted a shadow report to the Committee, outlining our concerns regarding the implementation of the Convention in Northern Ireland. In our submission, we note the parallels between some of the human rights concerns being voiced today about the manner in which the international “war on terrorism” is being pursued by the UK, and those that we and others have expressed in preceding years with regard to Northern Ireland. We also highlight specific issues arising today in Northern Ireland, including prevailing impunity and the lack of effective investigations; conditions in detention, particularly for separated paramilitary prisoners; the police and prisoner complaints systems; the inadequacy of police and prison officer human rights training; and the continued stockpiling of plastic bullets and the development of certain other weapons. The entire written submission is available on the BIRW website.
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION BACKS COLIN WORTON
This month the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has sent a report to the government recommending changes in the way that people acquitted of crimes are treated. Their report was prompted by the case of Colin Worton, originally tried with the UDR Four for the murder of Adrian Carroll in 1983. Although Colin Worton was acquitted he spent two and a half years on remand and he lost his job in the army. Three of the UDR Four were also acquitted on appeal, and, unlike Colin Worton, received compensation. Neil Latimer, the fourth UDR soldier, is still fighting to clear his name. The Human Rights Commission has recommended that Colin Worton receive an ex-gratia payment. For more information about his case, please see the report posted on our website.
POLICE OMBUDSMAN FINDS IN FAVOUR OF JOURNALISTS
On 3rd October the Police Ombudsman released details of her investigation into the raids on the home of journalists Liam Clarke and Kathryn Johnston and the offices of the Sunday Times on 30th April 2003. She strongly criticised the handling of searches at the journalists’ homes and described the seizure of journalistic material as unlawful. She has recommended disciplinary action against eight police officers involved in the operation, ranging in rank from Constable to Chief Superintendent. British Irish rights watch had complained to the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression about the raids, and supplied the Police Ombudsman with a copy of our report.
coroner finally receives copy of police file in case of seamus ludlow
At long last An Garda Síochána have disclosed a copy of the police investigation file on the murder of Seamus Ludlow to the coroner who is holding a second inquest into this 1976 murder. Doubtless it was a coincidence that this change of heart took place after BIRW had written to the Chief Commissioner and the Attorney General saying, “It has been an open secret for some time now that Seamus Ludlow, a wholly innocent and inoffensive man, was murdered by loyalists during a border incursion by Northern Ireland soldiers who were also paramilitaries – a matter which we would have thought would have been of utmost concern to the Irish government. We do not know what it is that An Garda Síochána has to fear from an open examination of this unforgivable murder, but their constant refusal to reveal their files, firstly to the family’s lawyers and now to the Coroner, give the inescapable impression that, either through complicity or through collusion, they have something to hide.” Mr Justice Barron’s report on this terrible case is expected soon.
Conditions in detention
This month we have written to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and the International Committee of the Red Cross, outlining recent legislative provisions that discriminate against separated paramilitary prisoners. In these letters we also conveyed our concerns about the conditions in detention for separated prisoners in Maghaberry prison.
Unfair treatment of dismissed Irish soldierS
We have once again written to the Irish government, raising the cases of soldiers dismissed from the Irish Army in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In each of the cases brought to BIRW, the individuals concerned were dismissed without proper explanation or the opportunity to challenge the reasons. After years of seeking to find out what these reasons were, they have been given snippets of information alleging vague “security concerns” or connections with paramilitary groups. BIRW believes that the Irish government has treated these men unfairly and that they deserve to have their names cleared.
Jane Winter,
Director,
31st October 2004.
For Peace Justice & Human Rights
