The relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday, when 14 civilians were murdered by British paratroopers in Derry in January 1972, are very optimistic that the Irish Government is behind them in their demand for a new independent and international inquiry into the massacre. This followed a meeting between relatives of those killed and members of the Irish Government, including the Taoiseach, John Bruton and the Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister), Dick Spring this Thursday (20 February) in Dublin. The Irish Government has also said that the British Government, in the form of a written communication from the British Ambassador in Dublin, Veronica Sutherland, has said that a new investigation could be held into the events of Bloody Sunday. The communication said that "no options have been ruled out. If there is evidence that is substantial and is new, then that will be considered by our authorities and the appropriate action taken."
In a meeting yesterday (22 February) in Derry between the relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday and the newly formed Bloody Sunday Trust, issued a joint statement in order to clarify the position of those campaigning on the issue of Bloody Sunday. It said that the issue of an apology by the British Government is not on the agenda. That at this stage the primary goal of the relatives and their supporters is to seek the establishment of "an independent and international inquiry with full legal and judicial powers" in order that the truth of what happened on Bloody Sunday is laid open for all to see.
In a statement which has left many surprised and confused, the British prime minister at the time of the Bloody Sunday massacre has compared the Bloody Sunday massacre to the killings in Tiananmen Square, Beijing in 1989. Edward Heath who was prime minister at the time of Bloody Sunday in 1972 also established the now notorious Widgery Inquiry. He made his comment during a live TV interview following the announcement of the death of China's paramount dictator Deng Xiaoping on Wednesday night (19 February).
Edward Heath was paying tribute to the dead dictator when Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman interrupted: "He killed a lot of people on Tiananmen Square." Health responded by saying "Well, of course, this is just like the British, it's the only thing you can bring up and we are the only country which does bring it up. What happened was that for a month, there was a crisis in which the civil authority had been defied. They (the Chinese authorities) took action about it. We can criticise it in the same way people criticise Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland, but that isn't by any means the whole story. Why can't we also look at the rest of his achievements."
In a statement issued by the Pat Finucane Centre, Paul O'Connor said that "it would be foolish to expect a British statesman to be overly concerned about human rights in China, South Africa or here. The real lesson to be learnt from Tiananmen Square and Bloody Sunday are that governments who are able to evade responsibility for human rights will continue to commit human rights violations. That has been the experience in China; that is the experience here."
The Irish prime minister (An Taoiseach) has expressed " surprise" in the Daíl (the Irish Parliament) at the remarks made by the British Secretary of state for Northern Ireland Patrick Mayhew reported in last weeks Ireland News Up-date . Mayhew, in a statement widely seen as an effort to embarrass John Hume and to help secure Unionist abstentions in the crucial Monday night vote in the British House of Commons, had rejected calls for a British Government apology for Bloody Sunday on the grounds that an apology was for "criminal wrong doing" and there was nothing in the Widgery report to support that.
Speaking in the Daíl on Tuesday (18 February) Taoiseach John Bruton said that he was glad that Mayhew had met with the relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday. "I was glad they had an opportunity to present him with a lot of new material on that day. Against the background of the fact that he had received a lot of new material from them, I was indeed surprised by comments that were made subsequently by him. But I do know from my own conversations with the British Prime Minister that he is willing to look at the new evidence. For my part, I have instructed the services of the State to assemble all the evidence we can from all sources, our own and external sources and we will be making a presentation of these matters in due course to the British authorities."
The comments made by Mayhew on Radio Ulster last Saturday (15 Feb.) have been widely condemned. The Chairperson of the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign, John Kelly, whose brother Michael was shot dead on Bloody Sunday, said that the relatives had been " appalled" at the tone of Mayhew's comments. "Mr Mayhew sat across the table and told us he recognised the depth of feeling of the relatives of those killed and the people of Derry. He told us he regretted the events of Bloody Sunday and that they never should have occurred." Yet 24 hours later, when he should have been "quietly and thoughtfully" considering the new evidence Mayhew had actually upheld the findings of the Widgery Tribunal. "We are viewing his comments as a clear indication of the British Government's intent to continue the whitewash of Bloody Sunday and to resist our just call for a fair, open and independent inquiry into the events of that terrible day."
In a significant move the Irish Government summoned the British Ambassador to Dublin in order to express its growing concern over the way that Roisin McAliskey is being treated in Holloway Prison in London. There is also evidence that the German authorities, who are primary responsible for the arrest of Roisin are being increasingly embarrassed by the cruel and vindictive treatment Roisin is receiving in Holloway. Roisin McAliskey is the daughter of former MP Bernadette Devlin McAliskey and she is being held in prison in London in order to facilitate an extradition request from the Germans who want to question her about an IRA bombing is Osnabrook.
The British Ambassador, Veronica Sutherland, was summoned to meet with the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dick Spring, in order that the Irish Government could protest at the conditions in which Ms McAliskey is being held. It is believed that Mr Spring told the Ambassador, according to the Irish Times, that "if badly handled" this case had the potential to do damage to the shared objectives of both governments.
In an article in the British liberal newspaper The Guardian (Friday, 21 Feb.), it was reported that the case of Rosin McAliskey "is assuming the status of an international cause célèbre." The article went on to reveal that the German federal prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe revealed that it had been "swamped" with letters complaining of the conditions that Roisin was being kept in. The article quotes the German lawyer handing the case for the Federal authorities Peter Maure as saying: "We made no representations whatsoever about the conditions, [The British authorities] should do whatever is appropriate under their law - keep her in or let her out."
However the exact nature of the German position is unclear. In an article in the Irish Times (22 Feb.) it appears that the German authorities are divided as to what to do with Roisin McAliskey. According to the report the German embassy in London is suggesting that the gravity of the offences justifies continued detention whereas the federal prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe denies that the embassy is authorised to oppose bail. However Green MEP Patricia McKenna has said: "The German authorities are playing a cruel game with Ms McAliskey and her family. They are stating to the media and members of the public that they are not opposing bail. And yet the only objections to her bail applications have come from the Germans' legal representatives."
Meanwhile there is growing confidence that the European Parliament will pass a motion next week supporting the demands that Roisin McAliskey receive humane treatment. A motion supporting Roisin has been tabled by Patricia McKenna, the Green MEP.
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The General Secretary of the Apprentice Boys' Association of Derry, Billy Moore, has indicated that his organisation may be prepared to enter into negotiations with the Bogside Residents' Group after the General and local government elections are held in May. In a statement to the Derry Journal he said that "ideally negotiation and discussion should start as soon as possible but in this case I believe it would be inappropriate to address this question when they (local politicians) are in the middle of a fight for their political lives." According to the Journal Mr Moore did say that he was confident he was speaking for very member of the Apprentice Boys organisation when he said that his group would meet with any "genuinely concerned citizen of the city" after the elections.
In a subsequent statement Donncha Mac Niallais speaking on behalf of the Bogside Residents' group said: "we, like the Apprentice Boys, are hopeful that this issue can be resolved and the conflict of last year avoided but this can only come about with a recognition from the loyal orders, including the Apprentice Boys that meaningful dialogue between those wishing to parade and those residents with objections commence immediately and without further delay."
The Mayor of Derry, Ulster Unionist alderman Richard Dallas has called the weekly protest outside a Roman Catholic church in Harryville, Ballymena as "antagonistic and sectarian." Writing in the Irish News, Dallas said that the idea that loyalists should still be standing outside the church was " hardly believable. To call a spade a spade, this is sectarianism. The symbolism of Harryville stinks. We have all come across sectarianism in many forms, from the crude taunts at football matches to our subtle use of language, intimidation and violence. Harryville still keeps rearing its ugly head. Harryville is not about Orangemen wanting to parade up the main street in Dunloy to participate in a religious service......Dunloy does not justify or verify those Harryville protesters. Harryville is about antagonism and sectarianism. Unionists and Orangemen must get their message broadcast and accepted - the Harryville protests are wrong."
Meanwhile at Harryville there was another small protest of loyalists at the Saturday evening mass yesterday (22 Feb). Sectarian abuse was shouted at those attending mass but there were no reports of any further incidents.
The Unionist dominated "Forum for Political Dialogue", the body which was established by the British Government and to which representatives were elected last May, has refused to meet the Garvaghy Residents' Coalition even though they wrote to them asking for a meeting three times.
The refusal of the sub-committee of the forum came to light when a member of the Alliance party, Steve McBride, tabled a motion urging acceptance of the Garvaghy Road Residents' offer to meet the committee. The sub-committee is preparing a report into the issue of contentious parades. The motion was defeated. The committee is chaired by UK Unionist and Orange Order member, Cedric Wilson and its vice-chairman is Jeffrey Donaldson, assistant grand master of the Orange Order and a member of the Ulster Unionist party. Members of the committee said that they would not meet with the Residents Group because it had passed the deadline for such meetings.
In the early hours of Sunday morning (16 Feb.), a large number of loyalists attacked members of the public trying to leave bars in the Spencer Road area of Derry's Waterside. One man, a male nurse was so badly injured that he had to be hospitalised. He was taken to hospital in a car as the crowd of loyalists would not allow an ambulance into the area. Other eyewitnesses have described the gang as shouting sectarian slogans and many people were too afraid to leave the pubs where they had been out for a night's entertainment. This all comes after a spate of petrol bomb attacks on Catholic homes in areas within or close by perceived loyalist areas.
In a bizarre twist to the story, the leader of the UDP in Derry, the political wing of the UDA, the largest pro-British paramilitary organisation in the North, claimed that up to 30 members of the IRA wielding baseball bats had entered a Protestant bar and "been chased away" There is no independent corroboration of this story. Nicholl then went on to say in his statement to the local Unionist paper The Sentinel : "What I find is that the Protestant community has had over 400 people killed and little untoward has happened to the Catholic community". It was the Derry UDA that carried out the Greysteel massacre in October 1993 in which seven people, including one protestant, were shot dead by members of the UDA as part of their killing campaign against Catholics.
Campaigners for two Belfast men wrongly convicted of the 1974 killing of an RUC man are hopeful that their case may be referred to the Appeal Court following news that the Secretary of State, Patrick Mayhew, is studying documents crucial to the case. Renewed interest in the campaign to clear the names of Billy Gorman and Paddy Mc Kinney came following the intervention of human rights activists and politicians including the Tanaiste and Foreign Minister Dick Spring. The men were convicted in 1980, six years after the killing, to be detained at ³the Secretary of State¹s pleasure² which entails an open ended sentence. Both protested their innocence at their trial and claimed that their statements of admission were the result of ill-treatment and beatings. Ill-treatment of detained persons reached crisis proportions during this period of the late 1970s with Amnesty International condemning the British Government. Paddy Mc Kinney was released in 1989 while Billy Gorman was not freed until 1993. For more information contact the Committee on the Administration of Justice.
There is informed speculation that the case of Patrick Kane, one of the Casement Accused, has been reviewed in the past week by the Life Sentence Review Board. The Board has the power to release Patrick, who has a mental age of 11, and was convicted in one of the most controversial miscarriages of justice seen in recent years. Patrick was convicted along with Michael Timmons and Sean Kelly following the shooting of two British soldiers during an IRA funeral in W. Belfast. Though the prosecution didn¹t claim that the men were involved in the actual shooting the trial judge, Robert Carswell, since elevated to Lord Chief Justice, directed that the three men had been part of a conspiracy to murder since they were in the crowd which had surrounded the soldier¹s vehicle. The ruling, since challenged by the British barrister Peter Thornton in a legal report, echoed a similar court decision from the apartheid era in South Africa where individuals who had merely been present as part of a crowd were convicted for alleged offences committed by others. Solicitors for the men are pressing the Secretary of State to send the case back to the Court of Appeal since even a positive decision from the Life Sentence Review Board would do nothing to establish the innocence of the three men.
Father Desmond Wilson, the well known Roman Catholic priest from West Belfast, has strongly supported the parents of murdered teenage Peter McBride as opposition in Ireland grows towards the British Army inspired campaign to release Peter's killers.
Peter McBride, the father of a young child, was shot dead in September 1992 by two soldiers, both members of the Scots Guards Regiment, after he had been routinely checked by the soldiers and told to go on. Now senior former members of the British Army and a number of Scottish MPS have started a campaign to get the two soldiers released early after having served less than five years of a life sentence. The move is strongly opposed by a range of human rights groups in the North of Ireland.
Three of the four men convicted in 1979 for the murder in England of newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater have finally been freed. The three men, cousins Vincent and Michael Hickey and James Robinson, were released on bail amid speculation that their convictions are to be declared unsafe by the Appeal Court in the near future. The fourth man, Irishman Patrick Molloy, died in 1981 while in prison still protesting his innocence. All four convictions were based largely on a confession by Molloy which he later claimed police had beaten out of him. There is also speculation that as well as beating Molloy, police forged his "confession" and that of Vincent Hickey.
Thirteen year old Carl Bridgewater was shot by burglars whom he had surprised at an isolated Staffordshire farmhouse in 1978. The police force which investigated the murder was the West Midlands police, the same police force which charged the Birmingham Six, who were similarly released 5 years ago after serving 15 years.
Derry man Johnny Walker, one of the Six, had shared the same wing at Long Lartin prison with Vincent Hickey for four years. Walker told Friday's (22Feb) Irish News that although he was delighted the three were free, it was disgraceful that they should have to return to the court of appeal in April to have their sentences formally quashed. He also called for immediate action against police authorities in Birmingham, alleging the decision to forge Hickey's confession must have come from a higher authority.
Martin Finucane of the Pat Finucane Centre in Derry said in a statement on Friday that once again the British Police and judiciary have been discredited. "It is becoming increasingly clear that the reality is that if you have the misfortune of being a member of the Irish community in Britain when the police are desperately trying to find someone to convict, then they will do their best to make you out to be guilty irrespective of the facts. This has been proven time and time again to be the case. You only have to look at the litany of miscarriages of justice against the Irish community in Britain to know that there is something fundamentally wrong with British Justice. This is only the tip of the iceberg. While groups like the Birmingham Six, Guildford Four and Winchester Three, and now the Bridgewater Three have been vindicated, there are many cases, such as Patrick McLaughlin and Danny MacNamee where an innocent person is still rotting in a British prison just for being Irish."