Ireland News UpdateSunday 23 March 1997 |
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The Bloody Sunday Trust and the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign launched on Friday (21 March) a new petition calling on the British Government to repudiate the findings of the Widgery Tribunal and to establish a new, independent, international inquiry with full legal and judicial powers. In a joint statement both organisations said the time was ready for such an inquiry given the volume and weight of the new evidence which has come to light over the past few months.
In a statement issued by spokespersons Tony Doherty (for the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign) and Robin Percival (for the Bloody Sunday Trust), they said:
"Over the past few months an enormous amount of significant new evidence has come to light which have totally undermined public confidence in the findings of the Widgery Inquiry established by the British Government to inquire into the events of 30 January 1972 in Derry, known as Bloody Sunday. This evidence includes:the discovery of the original statements made by the members of the Parachute Regiment into the deaths and injuries that took place on Bloody Sunday. These statements show significant and substantial differences with the statements given formally by the soldiers to the Inquiry; the acknowledgement that these original statements were not made available to the legal representatives of the deceased and wounded; tapes made of military communications during the events of Bloody Sunday; the discovery of a minute of a meeting between the then Prime Minister and the late Lord Widgery which could have significantly prejudiced the outcome and findings of the tribunal of inquiry; statements made by members of the Parachute Regiment who were present in Derry during Bloody Sunday, not presented to the Widgery Tribunal, which suggests that the version of events given by members of the British Army to the Tribunal was significantly misleading, false and untruthful; forensic evidence which totally discredits evidence submitted to and accepted by the Widgery Tribunal; the 700 civilian witness statements given to the unofficial NCCL inquiry shortly after the events of Bloody Sunday which were not properly considered by the Widgery Tribunal; evidence from civilians, soldiers and forensic experts that suggest that soldiers situated on or near the City's walls were involved in the killings and woundings and which was not presented to the Widgery Tribunal. "It is now clear that there is widespread cross-community support for the demand for a new inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday to establish the truth of what happened on that day. In announcing this petition, which we hope to present to the in-coming British Government, we are confident of significant public support and would ask, not only individuals, but groups of all shades of interest and opinion, to support the demand for a new inquiry."
The text of the petition is as follows:
We, the undersigned, call upon the British Government to:
(a) repudiate the Widgery Tribunal of Inquiry and all its findings, and
(b)establish a new, independent, international inquiry - with all requisite
legal and judicial powers - to secure the truth about Bloody Sunday, 30 January,
1972.
Coupons in support of the petition were published in Friday's Derry Journal. The petition will also be carried in next weeks Andersonstown News.
The full text of Sunday Business Post article is available at this site.
Soldier A, whose dramatic new evidence was carried in last Sunday's (16 March) Sunday Business Post has given an interview for Channel Four news on British television. In it he described the actions of the British Army on Bloody Sunday as "shameful and disgraceful."
In his interview on Channel Four the former Paratrooper who was a soldier in the Bogside area of Derry when his colleagues killed fourteen unarmed civilians, said that the events that day were "something of a shambles. It is certainly the case that the forward soldiers who became involved in the shooting were in a situation where command and control was absent for a period of 15 minutes when the bulk of the shooting occurred. During that period a number of fairly unfortunate - to say the least - decisions were made by individuals on the ground which led to some shameful and disgraceful acts being perpetrated." He went on to say that to his knowledge there was no order to fire and that the firing had started spontaneously.
Channel Four, which has been conducting its own inquiries into the events of Bloody Sunday, believes that shooting from the City Walls by members of the Royal Anglian Regiment, may have convinced some Paratroopers that they were under fire. However, as Channel Four acknowledged, this would not provide an explanation for the killings and woundings that took place in Glenfada Park, after, according to Soldier A, a cease-fire order had been given.
The soldier went onto say that "if you live in a civilised country, as Britain is, there are certain moral boundaries which the state has a duty to operate within. On this particular day things went wrong. The fact that that has never been acknowledged has left this festering sore."
The impartiality and integrity of the Widgery Tribunal was further criticised in a statement made by a senior BBC reporter who gave evidence to the Widgery Tribunal. David Capper said that Widgery has got his evidence "wrong" and was also "very condensed". In fact the evidence that David Capper gave the Tribunal contradicted what he had actually told the Tribunal. He had told the tribunal that he had seen a man with a gun some two hours before the Paratroopers were sent into the Bogside whereas Widgery had quoted him as saying that this gunman was firing immediately before the Paratroopers were sent in.
USA ballistic expert, Robert Breglio, has also issued a report which discredits even further the Widgery Report into events on Bloody Sunday. Mr Breglio works as independent ballistic expert in New York. He said in New York that "in my professional opinion the projectiles that struck three of the deceased were fired by a high powered weapon using telescopic sights." His findings point to at least two British Army snipers, and possibly several others soldiers with conventional rifles, firing from the vicinity of Derry's walls into Rossville Street. At no stage did the Widgery Inquiry inquire into shootings other than those coming from Paratroopers.
The full text of Sunday Business Post article is available at this site.
NEWSFLASH: Monday, 24 March: Roisin McAliskey will not be standing for election for Westminster. Go to end of this story for details.
In a surprise move, Bernadette McAliskey has announced that her eldest daughter Róisín is to stand in the Mid-Ulster constituency at the forthcoming British General Election on 1st May. The sitting MP is the Democratic Unionist William McCrea. The announcement came on Thursday (19 March) and caught both the SDLP's Denis Haughey and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness on the hop. In a statement the family of Róisín called on other nationalist candidates "to stand aside on this one occasion".
In a statement her mother Bernadette McAliskey said that "in the face of the continued refusal of the British court to acknowledge her right to bail and the British administration's racist belligerence, insult and inhumanity, we feel this may be her only opportunity to secure her release before the birth of her child."
Neither of the two main nationalist parties, the SDLP and Sinn Féin, have shown any degree of enthusiasm for the move. However meetings are expected this coming week involving Bernadette McAliskey and both the SDLP and Sinn Féin.
Meanwhile it has turned out that the letter written by David Maclean, the Home Office Minister, to a constituent, in which he described Róis& iacute;n McAliskey as an "IRA prisoner" and "evil scum", was leaked to the The Guardian newspaper by the Archbishop of Canterbury's office. The letter had been passed onto the Archbishop's office by the constituent concerned. The news that the letter had come from the Archbishop's office prompted Ann Widdecombe, the Home Office Minister with responsibility for prisons, to make the extraordinary statement that: "This confirms what I have thought for a very long time that the Church of England has many in its hierarchy who are actively campaigning against the Government." The statement is extraordinary because in a normal society the publication of a letter written by a Minister, would be regarded as doing that Government a favour. Ann Widdecombe recently left the Church of England and joined the Roman Catholic church because of the latter's opposition to women priests.
Meanwhile police in Auckland, New Zealand, last week surrounded a float illustrating the imprisonment of Róisín McAliskey and stopped it taking part in the city's annual St Patrick's day parade. The police considered the float was a breach of the peace. The float had been entered by Information On Ireland, producers of a long-running NZ-Irish magazine and a weekly radio programme.
NEWSFLASH: Monday, 24th March. Bernadette McAliskey has announced that her daughter will not stand for Westminister and has withdrawn her candidacy. In a statement she said that "since it was never our intention to further fragment any progressive vote in Mid Ulster by adding to the existing candidates, we will not be pursuing the matter further.". Bernadette McAliskey went on to say that Sinn Fein had told the family that the candidacy of Martin McGuinness was central to Sinn Fein's peace strategy. "Sinn Fein have conveyed to us that their decision to contest the Mid-Ulster election must be viewed in the context of the importance of compelling the next British Government to face up to to all the issues at the heart of the conflict."
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The Apprentice Boys Association in Belfast has agreed not to try and march down the Lower Ormeau Road this Easter Monday, traditionally regarded as the start of the Loyalist "marching" season. In a statement on Wednesday (19 March) the Apprentice Boys announced that while they would march as far as the Ormeau Bridge, once there they will travel by bus to the city centre and then onto Killyleagh, Co Down. In a statement they said: "Assuming the RUC will not allow us to parade our traditional route on Easter Monday, especially with the escalation of violence at the present time, it would be wrong for us to provide another excuse for confrontation. We will march to the bridge on the morning of Easter Monday and embark by coach to join the main parade. We believe both cultures need to co-exist and from discussions with the Catholic community understand that a degree of tolerance would be forthcoming if the Lower Ormeau Concerned Citizens (the Residents' Group) was not being manipulated by Sinn Féin. We will wait and see if Gerard Rice and co will learn the true meaning of compromise and tolerance and realise that the Lower Ormeau community is becoming a ghetto which will be to the detriment of those who live there." It is understood that the Apprentice Boys have been in conversations with SDLP Alistair McDonnell who had previously advised the residents of the Lower Ormeau Road "to go on holiday" in order to avoid Loyal Order parades.
Meanwhile the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community, while welcoming the decision, said that the decision was "hardly a major breakthrough. We would, however, point out what exactly the Apprentice Boys are intending to do, ie they will not try to force their way through if the march is banned, but will march to the Ormeau Bridge and then get on their buses. The reality still is that the Apprentice Boys want to march through our community, to get to Killyleagh which is in the opposite direction and will only stop if forced by the RUC."
Meanwhile, the decision announced last Sunday (16th March) that agreement had been reached in Dromore, Co Tyrone to allow local Orangemen to parade through the mainly nationalist village appears to still be holding. An emergency meeting of the local Orange Lodge voted by a majority of one vote to support its Master who had negotiated the agreement at a meeting of residents which included local Sinn Féin members. This despite earlier media reports that the meeting of Orangemen had actually voted against the agreement. However there is still no agreement at Dunloy where the local residents have indicated that whilst they will allow three so-called "church" parades per year they will not allow the Dunloy Flute Band to parade because of their involvement in the Harryville stand-off. There are no plans to allow any Apprentice Boys parades through the village. The discussions in Dunloy have involved the Mediation Network and the County Antrim Grande Orange Lodge. It is understood that the Dunloy Orange Lodge, which is headed by a member of the DUP, does not want an agreement.
John Kinsella, one of three men convicted for involvement in the 1993 bombing by the IRA of gas holders in Warrington, has been told by the British Home Office that his case is to be referred back to the Court of Appeal. The two other people convicted were his nephew Denis Kinsella and Pairic Mac Fhloinn.
The basis for the return to the Appeal Court is a letter written by Mac Fhloinn, an admitted IRA volunteer, that John Kinsella was not and had never been a member of the IRA and was not involved in the Warrington bombing. The case against Kinsella was that he had buried a bag containing explosives on his Nottingham allotment. However Kinsella has consistently argued that he did not know what was in the bag, that as a petty criminal he thought it was swag, and had he known he would not have told the police about it or planted it in a place where bonfires are regularly lit. The campaign to free Kinsella has had the support of his MP, Alan Simpson, as well as the former Yorkshire police chief, John Stalker.
Liam Maskey, a former internee, and a brother of Sinn Féin councillor Alex Maskey, has called on "all those involved in armed conflict to make a clear and unequivocal commitment to nonviolence." He has also called on the INLA to withdraw its threat against Loyalists involved in cross-community organisations. In his statement Liam Maskey said "The INLA suggests that loyalists involved in cross-community work pose a threat to the security of nationalists. We at Intercomm (a cross-community group in North Belfast) totally reject that. The trust and confidence that has been built up between nationalist and loyalist community workers associated with Intercomm is based on a genuine desire to build bridges and to work for better social, economic and political conditions for the long suffering people of north Belfast. The credibility of each of our members is beyond question. " Liam Maskey went on to say that threats against community workers "undermines the whole concept of inter community dialogue and democracy."
The Pat Finucane Centre has also called upon the INLA to withdraw its threat to attack Loyalist community workers, made in the wake of the killing of John Slane. In a discussion on the BBC's Talkback programme, Pat Finucane Centre member Paul O'Connor said that the Centre had over a number of years invited Loyalists and Unionists into the Bogside to discuss areas of both disagreement and agreement. He said that threats against Loyalist community workers and politicians was counter-productive and wrong and that progressive groups in the north should be promoting dialogue between members of working class organisation rather than the opposite.
Approximately 200 drinkers in a Catholic bar in the village of Aghagallon, near Portadown, thought they were under attack from Loyalist gunmen when the building was raked with gunfire. This occurred after the bar owner had phoned the RUC to tell him about suspicious behaviour outside the pub. In fact the gunmen were not members of the UDA but armed RUC officers who opened attack on the pub itself. A solicitor for the customers in the Derryhirk Inn has called for the immediate suspension of all the officers involved.
The attack took place over a week ago on Friday, 14 March. During the attack armed RUC undercover officers entered the pub and threatened to shoot customers in the pub, fired guns and shouted obscenities. Subsequently the RUC "found" what they claim were IRA weapons near the pub. This has been widely discounted in the area and the IRA has issued a statement denying that they had dumped any arms in the vicinity.
In another separate incident a British soldier (a member of the Royal Engineers) has been charged with a gun attack that took place last month in County Antrim against two other members of the British Army. At the time British security sources blamed the IRA for the attack.
The Pat Finucane Centre is hoping to provide it normal news up-date service over the Easter period. However, because of the absence of key members of the Centre over the Easter period we would ask our regular readers to note that next weeks news update will be posted on Saturday (29 March). The following week's news update may very well not be posted until the Monday (7 April). Meanwhile enjoy the Easter period and greetings to all our friends throughout the world, especially those in Spain