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DECEMBER 2005
STORMONTGATE; SMOKE AND MIRRORS
There is only one clear and undisputable fact about Stormontgate: it brought down the Northern Ireland Assembly for the fourth time and caused yet another crisis in the peace process. The Assembly was suspended on 14th October 2002, ten days after a heavy-handed police raid on Sinn Féin’s offices in Stormont, and Northern Ireland has been without a devolved government ever since, despite the fact that the unionists have got what they and many others wanted, IRA de-commissioning.
Stormontgate always reeked of collusion. We were told that Sinn Féin, surely always more spied-upon than spying, had a sophisticated spying ring within Stormont. A porter had been passing sensitive government documents to Sinn Féin. Then it transpired that the porter’s activities had been known to the police for some time and the “intelligence” services had been feeding Sinn Féin disinformation through him. Following the highly publicised raid on Sinn Féin’s Stormont offices – oh yes, the cameras were there – a series of other raids were carried out and thousands of documents were seized. I know about this personally. One of the documents was mine. It was a letter I wrote to Jane Kennedy MP when she was Minister for Security in Northern Ireland. At goodness knows how much public expense I was visited by Special Branch to warn me that documents pertaining to me and my organisation were in the hands of the IRA. Oddly, when I pointed out that whoever had the letter in their possession (of course, they would not tell me who that was) might have been sent a copy by me, an official silence descended and I heard no more about it.
After being contacted by a solicitor acting for one of the defendants in the Stormontgate case, I told the Chief Constable in person and the Director or Public Prosecutions in writing, only 13 days after the raid, that the prosecution would collapse. On 8th December 2005 the DPP dropped the charges “in the public interest”. By this time it was clear that a British agent was being protected, and on 16th December republicanism was rocked by the revelation that he was none other that Sinn Féin’s head of administration at Stormont, and one of the Stormontgate defendants, Denis Donaldson. At once the spin factory went into overdrive. A former spy has told me there is more to come, and I do not doubt that he is right.
The point of this further sordid episode in the “dirty war” in Northern Ireland is this. If the politicians are not running the country – and they are certainly not sitting in the Assembly – then who is? And who has been throughout the conflict? Could it be the “intelligence” services? If so, how intelligent is that? People on all sides of the community are rightly deeply disillusioned by every aspect of Stormontgate. Isn’t it time they got together and took control over their own destiny? Isn’t it time to give democracy – and peace – a chance?
TORTURE: A VICTORY FOR DECENCY
On 8th December 2005 the House of Lords handed down its decision in A & Others. The seven judges held unanimously that evidence obtained under torture in a third country is not admissible in the domestic courts. It seems incredible that such a question even needed to be asked, but once it had been then BIRW and thirteen other organisations, ably co-ordinated by Amnesty International, felt the need to argue the case as third party interveners. Our brilliant legal team was led by Keir Starmer QC, instructed by Leigh Day and Co. Our thanks to everyone concerned for all their hard work, and our sympathies to the victims of torture whose suffering lay at the heart of this case.
annual human rights day appeal
On 10th December, Human Rights Day, BIRW launched its annual appeal for donations towards our charitable work. We also published our Annual Report, which is available on our website. Please consider sending a donation to 13b Hillgate Place, London SW12 9ES. All donations are acknowledged and every penny will be put to use helping the victims of human rights abuses arising out of the conflict and working to place respect for human rights at the heart of the peace process.
SECRETARY OF STATE TO BE CHALLENGED OVER billy wright inquiry
On 13th December the Billy Wright Inquiry held a second Preliminary Hearing, following its conversion to an inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005 by Secretary of State Peter Hain MP. David Wright, Billy Wright’s father, did not attend the hearing and has notified the Secretary of State of his intention to judicially review his decision to convert the inquiry. I did attend the hearing as an observer, and my report can be found on our website. Already the Chair of the Inquiry, Lord MacLean, is complaining of the failure of the authorities to disclose to him documents he needs to carry out his investigation, despite former Secretary of State Paul Murphy’s assurances of full state co-operation. There can only be one conclusion: they must have something to hide. Now that the inquiry is taking place under the Inquiries Act, it is only a matter of time before the first Restriction Notice is issued, banning the public, and possibly even the family, from seeing official documents.
rosemary nelson inquiry delayed
Greatly to the disappointment of her family, the inquiry in the murder of Lurgan Solicitor Rosemary Nelson in 1999 has been delayed. Due to start in Spring 2006, it will not now commence until 16th January 2007. Difficult though this delay is for the family to endure, it is important that this inquiry is properly and thoroughly prepared. BIRW and the Committee on the Administration of Justice will be sending an independent observer to the hearings.
birw testifies before joint committee on human rights
On 7th December BIRW and CAJ testified before the parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights concerning the United Kingdom’s compliance – or, more often, failure to comply – with the Convention against Torture. I answered questions on a wide range of issues including plastic bullets, effective investigations into death, and extraordinary rendition. The transcript can be found at:
http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/joint_committee_on_
human_rights/joint_committee_on_human_rights_reports_and_publications.cfm
ENGLISH LAW SOCIETY DEBATES COUNTER-TERRORISM MEASURES
On 1st December 2005 the Human Rights Committee of the Law Society held a meeting called “The Rules of the Game have changed…”, which was addressed by Clive Stafford Smith, director of the anti-death penalty charity Reprieve, Françoise Hampson of the University of Essex, and myself. There was considerable concern among members of the legal profession about the draconian measures introduced in the name of tackling terrorism. The consensus seemed to be that terrorism is at least as old as Guy Fawkes and that the strongest defence against terrorism is a strong system of human rights.
finucane FAMILY REACHES OUT TO THE UNIONIST COMMUNITY
The family of murdered Belfast lawyer Patrick Fincuane have been holding a series of meeting with leaders of all political parties and other opinion formers to explain their decision not to co-operate with any inquiry into his murder held under the Inquiries Act 2005, because it does not meet the conditions for a public inquiry recommended by Judge Cory. They had already met David Ervine of the PUP and on 12th December they met Sir Reg Empey, leader of the UUP, a meeting I also attended. On 13th December they met Archbishop Eames, head of the Church of Ireland in Northern Ireland. The family’s message to the unionist community is that everyone is entitled to know the truth about what happened to their loved ones, and that the policies and practices that led to Patrick Finucane’s murder affected people on all sides of the community.
support from the atlantic philanthropies
I am delighted to report that the American foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies, has agreed to a grant of £325,000 over the next three years for our work on a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland, assisting victims of the conflict to access their rights, and assisting individuals to deal with the legacy of the conflict. We are truly grateful for this continued support from The Atlantic Philanthropies, who have been a major contributor to our funding over a number of years now.
historic enquiry team takes over stakeknife investigation
The Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Historic Enquiry Team has taken over from Stevens 3 the investigation into allegations that the army agent known as Stakeknife was responsible for a number of killings in Northern Ireland in his capacity as a member of the IRA’s internal discipline unit. BIRW has sent the HET a file on one alleged victim, John Dignam, who was murdered along with Aidan Starrs and Gregory Burns in 1992. The IRA claimed that the men were informers and that they had been involved in the murder of a woman called Margaret Perry, who was killed a year earlier. According to a confession extorted from John Dignam, he was an accessory after the fact, in that he helped Aidan Starrs to hide her body. BIRW is concerned that no-one has ever been brought to book for any of these four murders, which may have been preventable owing to the prior knowledge by both army intelligence and Special Branch.
POLICE OMBUDSMAN TAKES OVER RUC KILLINGS FROM HISTORIC ENQUIRY TEAM
The Police Ombudsman has taken over responsibility for the investigation of any deaths prior to 1998 caused by RUC officers from the HET. While BIRW welcomes the fact that these investigations will be fully independent of the PSNI, we have concerns about the resources available to the Police Ombudsman and also that the families of these victims will not benefit from the family-centred approach adopted by the HET. We have written to the Secretary of State raising these concerns.
MICHAEL McKEVITT LOSES HIS APPEAL
Michael McKevitt has lost his appeal against his convictions for membership of the RIRA and directing terrorism. BIRW continues to have grave concerns about these convictions. Not only was the primary evidence against him that of a paid informer who had a vested interest in testifying, but vital police evidence that contradicted one of that informer’s claims was withheld by the prosecution until after the informer’s evidence was over.
NEW BOOK ON BLOODY SUNDAY
Derry journalist and author Eamonn McCann has produced a new book: Bloody Sunday: The Families Speak Out, published by the Pluto Press. The book gives the viewpoints of many of the Bloody Sunday families about the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, and is a must-read for those who have been following its progress, as well as those who want to know what it was like to be involved in the longest and most expensive public inquiry in English legal history. On 9th December I attended the London launch of the book, where Eamonn McCann was joined by Kay Duddy and Jean Hegarty, both of whom lost young brothers on Bloody Sunday.
90-day detention
BIRW submitted a response to the Home Affairs Committee’s inquiry into the case for the extension of pre-charge detention. BIRW is opposed to any move to extend the current limits of 14 day detention under current terrorist legislation. 90-day detention is, in our submission, internment without charge by any other name, as is 14 -day or 28-day detention. We have seen the negative impact of internment in Northern Ireland. This policy wrongfully imprisoned hundreds of people, based on faulty intelligence, and directly contributed to increased IRA recruitment. It has been our experience that repressive laws do not defeat terrorism, they merely create miscarriages of justice and martyrs to the cause.
The use of Video ID by the PSNI
BIRW has submitted a response to the Northern Ireland Office’s consultation on altering the hierarchy of identification methods during investigations. This followed changes made by police forces in England and Wales where video ID is now often the default method of identification of suspects. The main attractions are the fact that ID procedures can now be speeded up, with less reliance on members of the public; and the fact that the technology is portable, enabling vulnerable or infirm witnesses to identify suspects without leaving their own homes. We broadly supported the proposed measures, which will aid in the prevention and prosecution of crime. However, we do consistently encourage the NIO to consider their compliance with international human rights standards when developing such measures.
NEW BOOK ON Dónal De Róiste
I have contributed a foreword to Don Mullan’s forthcoming book on Dónal De Róiste, Speaking Truth to Power: The epic battle of Lt. Donal Roche. Dónal De Róiste was forcibly retired from the Irish Army after dubious allegations that he had consorted with terrorists which he has always denied. All BIRW’s attempts to clear his name have fallen on deaf ears, and my foreword does not pull its punches.
FESTIVE GREETINGS
Please accept BIRW’s warm good wishes for a peaceful Christmas and New Year. The office will be closed from 23rd December to 2nd January inclusive.
Jane Winter,
Director,
21st December 2005.
For Peace Justice & Human Rights
