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Portadown and Moira Bombs

A large car bomb exploded in the centre of Portadown at midday yesterday (Monday) devastating property in the Edward St area. A telephone warning had been given and there are no reports of injuries. PUP councillor Billy Hutchinson is reported to have said that the loyalist ceasefire was at breaking point.

The latest bombing followed another massive 500IB car bomb attack on the RUC barracks in Moira Co Down on Friday night which caused extensive damage to property in the town and injured 11 people. The Friday night explosion came only hours after the decision to exclude Sinn Fein from the talks process until March 9th. The decision to exclude Sinn Fein was based on allegations from the RUC Chief Constable that the IRA was involved in two recent murders in Belfast. Sinn Fein have protested strongly at the move which has caused great anger in the nationalist community. The IRA stated that their ceasefire remains intact. It is suspected that the latest bomb attacks may be the work of the Continuity Army Council, a small dissident republican group opposed to the present peace process.

Sinn Fein has blamed loyalists for the murder of a 30 year old Lurgan man, Kevin Conway, whose body was found last week in a disused farmhouse near Aghalee. The man is believed to have been abducted from his home in the nationalist Kilwilkie estate. He was later found shot in the head. His four month year old baby was left alone in the house.

Also in the past week two letter bombs were sent to Catholic families in Belfast and Toomebridge. No one was injured. It is thought that loyalists were responsible.

Bloody Sunday Inquiry Judges Announced

The following press statement has just been received from the British Prime Minister's office regarding the two judges who will sit alongside Lord Saville on the new inquiry into Bloody Sunday. As expected the two are drawn from Commonwealth countries, New Zealand and Canada. "On 29 January it was announced that the Inquiry to be held under the Tribunals of Inquiry (Evidence) Act 1921 would be chaired by Lord Saville, a Lord of Appeal. He will be joined on the Tribunal by the Right Honourable Sir Edward Somers, a retired judge of the Court of Appeal in New Zealand; and by the Honourable William Hoyt, Chief Justice of New Brunswick, Canada.

Sir Edward Somers was born in 1928. He was educated at Christ College, Christchurch and Canterbury University College Christchurch. He practised as a barrister and solicitor and became a Queens Counsel (New Zealand) in 1973. He was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand in 1974 and became a judge of the Court of Appeal in New Zealand in 1981. He retired in 1990.

William Hoyt was born in 1930. He was educated at Woodstock High School; Acadia University and Emmanual College Cambridge. He was called to the New Brunswick Bar in 1957 and became a Queens Counsel (New Brunswick) in 1972. He was director of the Canadian Institute for the Administration of the Justice for 1979 to 1983. He was appointed Chief Justice of New Brunswick in 1993."

Close Castlereagh Call

In a press statement the Pat Finucane Centre has called for the closure of the Castlereagh interrogation centre and the prosecution of RUC officers following the award of 30,000 pounds to a republican prisoner who suffered a brutal assault both before and during his detention in the East Belfast centre. The compensation was paid out in a case involving David Adams who was arrested by a Headquarters Mobile Support Unit (HMSU) of the RUC four years ago in Belfast. A spokesperson for the centre commented, "This case is the tip of the iceberg and again focuses attention on the perversity of a system whereby massive compensation, taxpayers money, is paid out but no one is held accountable. The officers in charge of the HMSU, the Duty Inspector in charge of Castlereagh and the RUC Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan adopted the role of the proverbial three monkeys. They saw no evil, heard no evil and spoke no evil. When the cell door was left open at Castlereagh to allow RUC men to take turns to run at the man and aim martial arts kicks at his leg which eventually broke no one heard the screams, no one was suspended and no one was prosecuted. An internal RUC inquiry found that there was no case to answer. Ronnie Flanagan, who was himself Duty Inspector in charge of Castlereagh in 1978 and later took over command of the HMSUs, did not feel inclined to at least suspend the officers involved. They remain on our streets as do those officers who witnessed the murder of Robert Hamill in Portadown.

The spokesperson continued "Thirty three solicitors recently signed an open letter condemning the system which allows for no-claim no-blame compensation payments in these cases. In a recent Channel 4 Dispatches programme the RUC admitted that only two officers have been dismissed in 17 years as a result of complaints. A climate of immunity from prosecution has been encouraged. In a normal society those who carried out these assaults would be vigorously prosecuted and those at a senior level who failed in their statutory duty to protect this man would face charges of negligent behavior."

David Adams, a cousin of Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, spent three weeks in hospital following the assault. He suffered a broken leg, two fractured ribs, a punctured lung and multiple cuts to his face, chest and body. In effect the court judgement accepted that the assaults were carried out by, among others, Constable Mc Brien and Sergeant Forsythe. Since the assaults took place Sergeant Forsythe has been promoted to the rank of inspector while Constable Mc Brien is at the centre of allegations that one of a number of men arrested on the Boucher Rd in Belfast sustained serious facial injuries while under arrest. Observers are puzzled that the RUC allowed the case to even go to trial. No offer of settlement was made beforehand despite the damning and unequivocal medical evidence which was also available to the RUC. It is thought the RUC rejected legal advice not to contest the case in the belief that the courts would find in their favour. The phrase "above the law" springs to mind.

Peter Mc Bride Update

The campaign to force the early release of the two Scots Guards convicted of the murder of Peter Mc Bride in Belfast has gathered momentum. On Sunday 22.2 a press conference was held in Glasgow with the Labour MP Tam Dalyell. Numerous articles have also appeared in Scottish papers urging release of the two. The Pat Finucane Centre has attacked the factual inaccuracies of the well co-ordinated PR campaign. These inaccuracies include claims that the two soldiers stopped Peter because they believed that he was carrying a concealed weapon, that he was an IRA suspect and that they opened fire in the belief that he had a coffee jar bomb. These claims were rejected by the judge at the trial as a fabrication yet continue to be raised in newspaper articles. The underlying racist premise behind the campaign is thatOn Monday 23.2 a judicial review of the case was again postponed in the High Court in Belfast. A fact file on the murder of Peter Mc Bride is available on our homepage.

Meanwhile protests are planned during a performance of the Scots Guards Regimental Band in Toronto, Canada this coming week. The Band are appearing on Wednesday 25 at 8pm in Maple Leaf Gardens. According to press reports Scots Guard Major Jimmy Banks has composed a bagpipe tune called Freedom "in honour of the two Scots Guardsmen."

On Saturday 28.2 at 11.30 the Central Scotland branch of the Scots Guards Association is holding a demonstration in support of the two British soldiers in Perth, Scotland. A Major David Walker of the Association told a Scottish paper that,"The Regiment would be pleased to have them back…..they are still serving soldiers." The British Army allows soldiers who have been convicted of murdering Irish civilians to remain serving soldiers.

CAJ Video

The Belfast based Committee on the Administration of Justice have released a video on the policing aspect of contentious parades during the summer of 1997. The video, Policing the Police, is available from the CAJ at Tel (0) 1232 232394 Fax (0) 1232 246706 and is priced at ten pounds.

Repatriation of Prisoners

We are posting a full overview of the situation regarding the repatriation of prisoners from Britain to Ireland on our homepage. The overview provide details of the 11 political prisoners still waiting for repatriation and a guide to the process involved.