IRISH PISH PARROT PROCESS DEAD

A PISH PROCESS WITHOUT TRUTH & RECONCILIATION IS NOT A PEACE PROCESS AMADAIN

Manus Deery: Family angry after coroner suspends inquest

Manus Deery, 15, was shot dead in the Bogside in May 1972

The sister of a Londonderry teenager shot dead by a soldier in the Bogside 40 years ago has said she is angry that his inquest has been suspended.

Earlier this year, Attorney General John Larkin ordered a new inquest into the death of 15-year-old Manus Deery who was killed in 1972.

On Thursday, it was suspended along with 14 others by Northern Ireland's senior coroner John Leckey.

Mr Leckey said Mr Larkin may have exceeded his powers.

Helen Deery said the family was given fresh hope when it was announced in June there would be an inquest into her brother's killing.

"We were delighted and so were the witnesses because they were given the opportunity to stand up and tell the truth," she said.

"It was our chance to lay him to rest but that has been denied now as well.

"As a family we are gutted, it has been postponed for 40 years, why any longer?"

Helen Deery questioned why John Leckey decided to postpone the inquests.

"I don't think he had the right to do that at all. These inquests should have been done 40 years ago.

"What do I tell my grandchildren? Are we second-class citizens still and where is the peace process?

I would ask John Leckey to overturn his decision, it is a disgrace.

Helen Deery, Manus Deery's sister

"We had great hope in the summer when we heard there was going to be an inquest.

"It was brilliant for the family, but now again that has been pulled away from us. It seems to be a stalling process.

"I would ask John Leckey to overturn his decision, it is a disgrace. "It shouldn't be within his power.

"He can't deny an inquest into the killing of a 15-year-old boy."

Manus Deery, 15, was shot dead in the Bogside in May 1972.

The Army maintains that a soldier in a lookout post on Derry's walls fired at what appeared to be a gunman about 200 metres away, missed, and that the ricochet fatally injured the teenager.

His family have always disputed the Army's version.

PEACE PROCESS DEAD Long Live the Irish Peace Process

BBC

Londonderry: Man shot in leg 'by appointment'

Sinn Féin councillor Eric McGinley said he understood the man had been shot in the leg "by appointment" during a so-called punishment attack.

A 42-year-old man has been shot in an overnight gun attack in Londonderry.

Police said they were investigating a "paramilitary-style shooting" which happened in the Ballymagroarty area of the city at about 23:40 GMT.

Provisional Sinn Féin councillor Eric McGinley said he understood the man had been shot in the leg "by appointment" during a so-called punishment attack.

He said: "This is a very worrying development as it's the second shooting in this area in just over a month."

Police said they received a report that a 42-year-old man had been shot in the left leg at Corrib Court by a man described as being approximately 6ft tall, who was wearing a balaclava and dark clothing.

The victim was taken to hospital for treatment to his injury which is not believed to be life-threatening.

In a statement, Mr McGinley added: "It's important to repeat the message that there is no place for guns on the streets of our city.

"The community does not want this and the people behind these actions need to stop."

Which guns McGinley ? British Army? PSNIRA?, Continuity IRA? Flegger RA?, RAAD?, Real IRA?, Official IRA?, ONH?, UVF?, MI5?, SAS????????????

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-29870232

BRITISH DIRTY WARS Arrest Frank Kitson

Sun Tzu, author of the Art of War and ancient Chinese military strategist, wrote hundreds of years B.C.

 “To know your Enemy, you must become your Enemy”

Despite a failing Peace Process, Britain's dirty war still continues in Ireland today. Lawyers of families for Irish civilians murdered by the British and their pseudo gangs, should demand the PSNI, question British Army Brigadier, Frank Kitson, as they have already done, with other elderly Irish civilian suspects, selectively. Frank Kitson was as much a director of terrorism, as any paramilitary leader, indeed probably the dirtiest while he is also the author of the script, for the latest US/UK invasion of Syria and the creation of ISIS. In the course of the development of a British undercover clandestine unit, (the forerunner of current ones) which calculatedly killed numerous ordinary civilians, including calculatedly many of their own, one former member of the Military Reaction Force admitted to journalist John Ware;

“We were not there to act like an army unit. We were there to act like a terror group.”

- Military Reaction Force

If the RUC - PSNI Police Service of Northern Ireland, is the truly impartial force they portray themselves to be, then Frank Kitson should be arrested and interrogated immediately before he kicks the bucket, about these taped allegations and their other confirmations.

This journalist, is currently experiencing first hand today, the same strategy employed in the media, by the British with regard to reporting events connected with Ireland. Shooting the messenger, whether by character assassination or simply assassination, along with the dissemination of disinformation, is still part of the ongoing British Dirty War in Ireland today, it will be employed on an even greater scale in Scotland shortly. British assassination agents of sword and pen, are still very much active in Ireland today.

Vilifying the Dead

by Mary Nelis

'Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.'

The stench arising from the current British enquiry into the murder of the Lurgan solicitor, Rosemary Nelson must surely assail the nostrils of those at the front line in the defence of human rights around the world.

The murders of the defence lawyers Rosemary Nelson and Pat Finucane shocked even those of us who were used to the dirty war being waged on our streets. The murders also shocked people in the United Nations, and the European Parliament and perhaps for the first time, the extent of British violations of human rights in the North of Ireland dirty war became a focus for international human right organisations throughout the world. Who would believe that a country claiming to be the mother of Parliamentary democracy would preside over a system, nay even be part of a system that murders lawyers? That only happens in Latin American dictatorships or so they tell us. Yet under British democracy, death squads, official and unofficial, have operated in the 6 Counties for the past forty years.

Rosemary Nelson was a victim of the death squads. The Mother of four children was blown to bits by a bomb placed beneath her car on a cold day in March, 1999. Long before the death squads finished her off, this small woman, a lawyer and champion of human rights, had been subjected to years of threats from RUC officers and Unionist paramilitary organisations in the Lurgan area of the North.

In September 1998 a year before she was murdered, she testified before a United States Congressional hearing during which she stated that because she represented suspects detained for questioning about politically motivated offences, she had began to experience difficulties with the RUC. She claimed that these difficulties involved RUC officers questioning her professional integrity, making allegations that she was a member of a paramilitary group and at their most serious, making threats against her personal safety including death threats to herself and her children. She also told of receiving threatening phone calls and letters and of being physically assaulted, intimidated and verbally abused by the RUC during the Drumcree standoff in 1997.

Many of the Human Rights organisations including CAJ, the British Irish Watch, and the United Nations special investigator Param Curamaswamy accepted that her complaints were valid. At least sixteen other solicitors had also made complaints against the RUC for alleged threats although it was suspected that this did not represent the true extent of alleged RUC intimidation of solicitors representing Republicans/Nationalist suspects.

So serious did the threats become against Rosemary Nelson that the Independent Commission for Police Complaints took the unprecedented step to refer them to the then Secretary of State, Mo Mowlam.

A lesser person would have given up and moved but Rosemary Nelson was no ordinary lawyer.

She pursued the RUC over the killing of Robert Hamill and successfully helped Colin Duffy to appeal his conviction on a charge of murder. But it was her work with Brendan Mac Coinnaith and the Garvaghy Road Residents Association that earned her the hostility of Unionist Paramilitary organisations, closely associated with the RUC.

When the death threats didn’t work, hundreds of leaflets using the most vile language, impugning her reputation and claiming that she was having affairs with known IRA men, were posted all over Lurgan. It is tribute to her bravery and the loyalty of her husband that she continued to do her work on behalf of the people.

The same allegations surfaced last week when the British established enquiry heard claims by an anonymous RUC Special Branch man hiding behind a curtain, that were similar to the leaflets in Lurgan all those years ago.

Neither those who knew Rosemary or the wider Nationalists community were surprised although most were outraged that in a time of political policing progress; the bad old days of the RUC haven’t gone away.

But then scurrilous and malicious allegations and character assassination is the stock in trade of the British establishment and their puppet police and paramilitaries.

The minds of the people had to be destroyed before the subjugation of their bodies. It was the first story that counted, usually lies, half truths and smears so brilliantly described by the former British intelligence officers, and whistle blowers, Colin Wallace and Fred Holyroyd. Their job in Lisburn RUC station was to peddle as much disinformation as a compliant media would accept. Both became the victims of character assassination by their British Masters when they fell foul of MI5.

We don’t have to stray far from our own City for such examples for examples of the character assassination of the dead. The dead of Bloody Sunday were vilified throughout the world, before their corpses were even cold. The Widgery enquiry put the official British seal on the story.

Indeed an enquiry has been set up by the British for every atrocity they have committed over the past forty years. The objectives were never about truth or proper investigation but to make the issue sub judice, in the hope that by the time the inquiry reported, the incident would be forgotten. The opportunity to impugn the integrity of the victim or witnesses was an additional bonus.

Those with long memories will recall the Bennet enquiry into the beating of suspects in interrogation centres by the RUC. Doctor Irwin a police doctor, who had examined many of the suspects, spoke on television about the number of injuries he had seen. He was accused in a leaked story to the Daily Telegraph, of holding a grudge against the RUC because of their failure to investigate a crime by a member of the security forces against his wife.

The allegations that death squad operations were official British Government policy resulted in another enquiry headed up by the Deputy Chief Constable of Manchester John Stalker. A professional policeman, he got to close to the truth and had to be removed but not before his character and those of his associates had been destroyed and his career as a policeman finished.

Even the reputation and integrity of the United Nations Rappateur Param Cumaraswamy was publicly questioned by the RUC because he raised concerns about the threats to Rosemary Nelson and the lack of a proper investigation into the murder of Pat Finucane.

The problem with all the enquiries set up over the years including the current ones is that the terms of reference are set by the British.

The lawyers representing the family of Rosemary Nelson were not permitted last week, to cross examine the witness who impugned her reputation. Yet special status in all these enquiries is given to MI5 as well as to former RUC officers and representatives of the Ministry of Defence. It is becoming clear that the objectives of the current enquiries advocated by the Canadian Judge Cory are more concerned with character assassination than with establishing collusion in the murder of Rosemary Nelson. It is equally clear that the British Government can’t afford an enquiry that will be truly independent.

It was the late Fr. Denis Faul who in the course of his work in exposing the atrocities of the British Army and the RUC in the 1970’s stated ‘I can verify that the British never told the truth about a single thing they ever did in this country.’

If the current enquiries are anything to go by, truth is not part of their agenda.

Someone once stated that Ireland has always been the rock upon which English virtue has floundered. To that could be added the virtue and credibility of British enquiries.

Links

POLITICAL PSEUDO GANGS

ORWELLIAN IRELAND

SPINWATCH

TECHDIRT


BRITAIN'S DIRTY WAR IN IRELAND

BRITISH MEDIA IN IRELAND

A VERY BRITISH JIHAD

GERRY CONLON DEAD IN THE BRITISH SCUM STATE OF OCCUPIED IRELAND

The Guildford Four: in the name of justice

As one of the Guildford Four, Gerry Conlon spent 15 years in prison for an IRA campaign he knew nothing about. More than 24 years later he has died still fighting for justice for others like the Craigavon Two.

Image 1 of 2

Gerry Conlon: 'The Government knew we were being tortured' 

By Richard Holt

There are moments when I lose sight of Gerry Conlon through the fog of countless cigarettes smoked during our four-hour interview. He is in Liverpool to campaign for other victims of miscarriages of justice, and we meet in a rented apartment in the city's Chinatown. We are joined periodically by others who are there to support the cause. Each adds views on the various injustices they have suffered and each contributes to the cloud of thick smoke filling the room.

In 1974, the then 20-year-old Belfast-born Conlon was arrested over the IRA pub bombings in Guildford which killed five people. He had never been to Guildford. But along with the three other members of the group that became known as the Guildford Four, Conlon was sentenced to life in prison on the basis of false confessions made after days of mistreatment by Surrey police.

Conlon's father, Giuseppe, was also imprisoned as part of a group known as the Maguire Seven. The basis of their convictions was forensic evidence - later discredited - which the prosecution claimed proved they had handled explosives used in the bombings. The group, includingPatrick Maguire who was just 13 when he was arrested, were sentenced to between four and 14 years in prison.

In 1989 the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of the Guildford Four when it was found that crucial alibi evidence - proving Conlon could not have done the bombings - had not been shown to the defence. There was also evidence of police collusion on fabricating the statements - the only evidence produced against them at the original trial. The Maguire Seven later had their convictions overturned, but by this time they had all served their sentences and been released, except Giuseppe Conlon who, already in failing health when he was arrested, died after five years in prison.

The Gerry Conlon that stood outside the High Court in London after his release was a triumphant and charismatic figure. He told massed press and supporters that he was an innocent man who had spent 15 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. He vowed to clear his late father's name and fight for the release of others, like the Birmingham Six and the Bridgwater Three, who had been wrongly convicted.

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This is the Conlon that played repeatedly on the news bulletins. And this is the man portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis as the star of In the Name Of the Father, the partly fictionalised 1993 film based on Conlon's autobiography. But Conlon's feelings of triumph were short-lived and he was far from ready for the outside world.

"If you spend a few weeks in the Big Brother house, you get counselling when you leave to prepare you for life outside. I spent 15 years being moved from one terrible prison to the next, being treated like I was lower than the worst kind of paedophile. When I got released I was given £34.90 and told to go."

When long-term prisoners come up for release, they are slowly reintroduced to the outside world, with supervised day releases, then weekend releases. When wrongful convictions are quashed, prisoners leave straight away, with no preparation for how to cope with life on the outside.

Conlon was initially on a high after his release. He put everything into making good his pledge to get the convictions of the Birmingham Six overturned. After months of frantic campaigning, he went back to his mother's house in Belfast to take a break when suddenly the impact of what he had been through hit him.

"I came out of the bathroom and my father, who'd died years earlier, was sitting on the settee in prison pyjamas and a prison dressing gown. Since then I haven't been able to get the terrible images out of my head.

"I never had one suicidal thought in prison. Now I have them all the time. I haven't been able to have a relationship, I've turned to alcohol and drugs, it's a constant waking nightmare."

More than twenty years after his release, the man sitting in front of me is no less eloquent and determined than the angry 35-year old who stood outside court, but his mind has never escaped from prison. He speaks lyrically, without pause, recalling full names, exact dates and locations of the grim landmarks of his ordeal. But at every turn he is visibly haunted by the terrible memories that won't stay in the past and the injustices which continue in the present.

Conlon believes that because their case caused such political embarrassment, there was what he calls a "whispering campaign" around Westminster after their release. That although their conviction was quashed, the authorities wanted people to think they were freed on a technicality, but may actually have been guilty.

He is angry that nobody was ever punished for their wrongful imprisonment. He is also convinced that it was not just the police that lied to get them convicted. He believes the conspiracy to jail innocent people went right to the top.

"The Government knew, right from the start, that we were innocent. They knew we had nothing to do with the IRA, but they didn't care. That's why they have a 75-year immunity order on our case. Because they want all the people involved to be dead before they release our files."

Because this cloud of suspicion was allowed to remain, Conlon was denied access to psychiatric treatment. It was not until 2007 that he began getting regular therapy, and even then only one hour a week. This has helped, but is far too little, coming far too late, for someone who suffered trauma on the level that he did.

"I have what they call a disassociation problem: something comes in to my head and I'm back in prison. I'm back in Wakefield, being tortured... hands behind my back, gun in my mouth, it doesn't go away.

"The reason I took drugs and alcohol was because I couldn't deal with what my mind was projecting. To get some relief from the nightmares, day and night.

"But then the nightmares started breaking through with a sledge hammer, and once that happened it was a question of giving up the drugs and fighting to get professional help."

The effects of his wrongful conviction went far beyond Conlon and the others who were wrongfully convicted. Prison visits were supervised and any personal details discussed would be spread around by mischievous warders, so they stuck to discussing pleasantries.

"I'd spent months in solitary, in the dark. I'd been beaten, had people defecating in my food, putting glass in my food. I'd seen people murdered. Yet I had to tell my family they were treating me well.

"When you come out you find the relationship with your family during your time inside was built on falsehoods. I didn't know that my mother and my sisters were being strip searched and abused when they came to see me. You can't calculate the devastating effect it has on your family."

As we are speaking Conlon sees a news report on the TV screen behind me about the treatment of the former Guantánamo Bay detainee Binyan Mohamed.

"Nothing has changed. The Government knew we were being tortured in the 1970s. When I hear about Binyam Mohamed it all comes back. My mind flashes back to the beatings, the threats and the mental cruelty I suffered at the hands of the police."

Conlon has become frustrated by the lack of political will to help victims of miscarriages of justice. The Miscarriages of Justice Organisation (Mojo) was formed by Paddy Hill after he and other members of the Birmingham Six had their convictions quashed in 1991. Mojo is campaigning to have a trauma centre set up dedicated to helping miscarriage of justice victims after they leave prison. They get sympathetic noises from politicians but little action.

In 1997, Conlon was given half a million pounds in compensation. Giving money to victims of miscarriages of justice is likened by Conlon to giving them a "bottle of whisky and a revolver".

"They may as well say: 'here's the money, now go and kill yourself.'

"They gave me £546,000 - for taking me, torturing me and framing me; taking my father, torturing him and having him die in prison; then leaving me sinking in the quicksand of my own nightmares."

In 2005 the Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven finally got a personal apology from Tony Blair. Conlon told the then Prime Minister that the apology would only mean something if it came with more help for the victims.

"Blair turned to [parliamentary private secretary] David Hanson and said: 'David, get on to this right away.' Since then we've had no help. We followed up on Tony Blair's promise and were basically told to get lost. He lied to us - the apology means nothing."

"If there was a trauma centre, within a year, you could probably be living a normal productive life rather than being haunted by nightmares."

But picking up the pieces of those who have already been wrongly convicted is cure, rather than prevention. Seeing the mistreatment of suspects and innocent people going to prison makes him feel that Britain has not moved on since the 1970s.

"Back then it was the Irish, now it's Muslims. But nobody is safe, one of the Guildford Four was English. Everyone thinks this happens to other people, but it's closer than you think.

"Who's to say you're not going to be next. Look at Sally Clarke, she was a solicitor and she drank herself to death after she was wrongly convicted of killing her two sons."

What is striking about Conlon is that while he is angry, he is amazingly lacking in bitterness. He is clearly suffering greatly with the horrors of 15 years being treated "worse than a twisted child killer". He wants his case files released; he wants proper post-sentence care for other victims of miscarriages - but he is not consumed by hate.

A common theme he returns to is how trauma counselling is given to people who have experienced what, to him, would seem fairly mild. But every time he mentions another group getting "the best counselling available", he pauses, and slowly emphasises, "and so they should, and so they should. But what about us?"

Conlon is now "full of" psychiatric drugs, and his terrifying flashbacks continue. But through the pain caused by his years in prison he finds some purpose.

"I want my father's death to count for something. It's the hardest thing you can imagine to be put in prison for something you didn't do. If I can do something to stop it happening to other people my life will have meant something."

NEWRY SOUTH ARMAGH RSF WARN McGUINNESS AS SPY SHOT DEAD

Irish Republican News · April 19, 2014 McGuinness told ‘stay away’ over banquet controversy Sinn Fein has been urged to stay away from Easter commemorations after Martin McGuinness attended a royal banquet and toasted England’s queen, Elizabeth Windsor. The Six-County Deputy First Minister infuriated republicans last week at the event at Windsor Castle in honour of 26-County president Michael D Higgins.The strongly worded statement by Republican Sinn Fein (RSF) accuses McGuinness of being a “lackey of her majesty” In advert placed in weekly newspapers in the Newry and south Armagh areas, it said the RSF message was directed “to the Provos and their leader Martin McGuinness”. “Stay away from the graves of our departed Irish Republican Volunteers,” it read. “Your presence and that of your ‘dressed-up’ Brit-loving leader, is a contamination of the sacred places, where the hunger strikers and our other revered patriots rest. “The Provo leader... was seen lately on TV wearing full evening uniform of white tie and tails, toasting his queen” “He is not an Irish republican but a very highly paid lackey of her majesty”. The statement is signed by Republican Sinn Fein Newry and south Armagh. RSF is one of a number of republican groups who will hold Easter Rising commemorations at republican plots across Ireland this weekend. The party was formed in 1986 by a number of people who left Sinn Fein in protest at the decision to allow members to take their seats in the 26-County parliament in Dublin. The organisation’s main commemorations at Milltown cemetery in west Belfast on Sunday will be addressed by party leader Des Dalton. A spokesperson said the leadership had no issue with the sentiments expressed in the advert. But Sinn Fein Newry and Armagh MP Conor Murphy claimed the advert was “pathetic”. “They represent no-one and indeed the only time you hear of them is when they put an ad containing an anti-Sinn Fein rant into the local papers once a year,” he said. “It’s really rather pathetic.” ROYAL AFTERSHOCKSIn a wider debate over the state visit, socialists have criticised the “fawning” by Ireland’s ruling classes over English royalty and royal ceremonies. Over 50 journalists and crew were dispatched from Dublin by Irish state-run broadcaster RTE to cover the state visit, which received relatively little attention in the British media. Coverage of the event in the mainstream newspapers was strongly sycophantic. Commentator Eamonn McCan said that the state visit was not about “cementing relations”, but about the Irish elite celebrating their acceptance into an upper layer of society. “They believe they have now been liberated from any need to pretend dislike for the flummery and pomp which deep down – not all that deep, as a matter of fact – they have envied and aspired to,” he wrote. Meanwhile, historians have also railed against the Dublin government’s attempts to use the state visit as a springboard for a new anti-nationalist programme, including an ‘Anglo-Irish’ commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising -- the event which directly led to the independence of the 26 County state from British rule. In two years time, events to mark the centenary of the Rising and the executions of the 1916 leaders are set to include a British royal -- either the queen herself, or her son, Charles Windsor, the commander-in-chief of the Parachute Regiment. Historian Prof Diarmaid Ferriter has questioned the decision, which he said had bypassed an expert advisory group on the centenary which the government itself had appointed. He said he was concerned that the presence of the British royal family will end up “distorting history quite significantly”. “I’m worried that we are heading towards something that is full of holes as to the historical reality at the time,” he said.

© 2014 Irish Republican News

Irish Republican News · April 19, 2014 Former CIRA man shot dead in west Belfast A man expelled from the Continuity IRA for criminal activity was shot dead yesterday [Friday] at a diesel depot he operated. Three men ran from a car and opened fire on Tommy Crossan in a daylight attack off the Springfield Road, shocking shoppers and mass-goers. The car used in the attack was found burned out a short distance away, at Beechmount Grove.Known as ‘Teflon Tommy’ for his ability to escape arrest despite openly trading in illegal fuel, Crossan was expelled from the Continuity IRA three years ago. There were allegations he was pocketing funds raised in the organisation’s name, and he was also accused of acting as an informer after the PSNI made a number of arms finds. The dead man had been recently linked with a group which used the name ‘Irish Volunteers’ before it was ordered to disband by the larger breakaway group, Oglaigh na hEireann. Oglaigh na hEireann have been active recently and claimed responsibility for a unrelated attack at a licensed premises in north Belfast earlier this month. The group said they were acting in response to “demand from the community” after allegations of criminality and anti-social activity in the vicinity of the bar. The statement said that “individuals frequenting the bar” had been warned about ongoing criminality but that had “gone unheeded”. Despite facing death threats from a number of sources, Crossan remained active in the heart of west Belfast until Friday’s brazen attack. The killing has been condemned by nationalist politicians. The SDLP’s Colin Keenan said there was a “real sense of shock”. “We have long hoped that the shadow of death had been lifted from west Belfast,” he said. Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness sympathised with the family of the dead man. “Nothing that is claimed by the criminals responsible can justify it,” he said.

© 2014 Irish Republican News

Irish Republican News · April 11, 2014 High-profile arrests and prosecutions as OTR furore continues Well-known loyalist Willie Frazer attempted to personally “arrest” a republican he alleged was ‘on the run’ from a conflict-related prosecution this week. The victims’ campaigner tried moved towards mourners at a funeral in County Down, but was blocked by a line of PSNI police. Mr Frazer said he believed the man was among 187 republicans who received “letters of comfort”, telling them they were not wanted in connection with any crimes.“When I asked police and named him they said they weren’t aware of him being wanted for any crime,” he said. “I said if they didn’t want to arrest him then I would make a citizen’s arrest, but they wouldn’t let me up the road.” Mr Frazer also complained about the number of police at the funeral. “I have been to large funerals before but I have never seen the number of police that were there yesterday,” he said. Meanwhile, former PSNI chief Hugh Orde has denied that he came under pressure to release republican suspects following claims by retired senior RUC detective Norman Baxter of political “interference” in prosecutions. Last week Baxter, notorious among republicans for engaging in ‘political policing’, ironically accused British officials in London of attempting to pervert the course of justice by asking for the release of republicans Vincent McAnespie and Gerry McGeough after their arrest in March 2007 for IRA actions in 1981. The request, Mr Baxter told a Westminster parliamentary committee, was prompted by a phone call by Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams. But Orde refuted the claims, and said that calls from Downing Street officials conveying complaints made by senior representatives from both sides of the political divide were frequent but “at no time did No 10 ever try to influence my decision making”. He added that he would not have been surprised if Mr Adams had rung Downing Street to complain. “It was not unusual for politicians of all sides to complain about what the police service was doing, both loyalist and republican,” he said. OMAGH PROSECUTIONA spate of historical cases have been reopened in recent weeks amid the controversy over the letter given to OTRs. Most notably, County Monaghan republican Seamus Daly was this week charged in Armagh with involvement in the 1998 Omagh bombing. The bombing, directed at the commercial centre of the Tyrone market town, took one of the worst tolls in the history of the conflict when two telephoned warnings failed to clear the area around the bomb. There have previously been two failed prosecutions against alleged members of the ‘Real IRA’ unit involved, despite their vehicle being tracked and mobile phones monitored as the attack was allowed to proceed. A statement in 2008 by the former PSNI chief Hugh Orde indicated that no further prosecutions were likely in the case. One man, Colm Murphy, was previously tried, convicted, and then released after it was revealed that the Gardai forged interview notes used in the case. Mr Murphy’s nephew, Sean Hoey, was also tried and found not guilty. FLORIDA CASE REOPENEDThe PSNI has also said they are to reinvestigate controversial claims that the Provisional IRA brought guns from the US into Ireland in the late 1990s. It follows a BBC Spotlight programme that alleged a senior member of Sinn Fein was involved in a gun-running operation from Florida. It was alleged in the programme that Sean ‘Spike’ Murray, now a senior Sinn Fein strategist, was involved in smuggling guns before and after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Mr Murray has denied the allegations. MCCONVILLE ARRESTMeanwhile, the sister of Sinn Fein Assembly member Fra McCann has been arrested in connection with the abduction of informer Jean McConville in December 1972. Geraldine Rogan was arrested at her west Belfast home before being released without charge. The PSNI said it is preparing a report for Crown prosecutors. Hers was the third such arrest in the case.

© 2014 Irish Republican News

April 19, 2014

ANGLO BOSS GOES FREE

The disgraced chairman of Anglo Irish Bank has been cleared this week of hatching a highly illegal loans-for-shares plot months before the bank’s collapse. Two of his colleagues were found guilty.

British statement on the past angers victims

Theresa Villiers, who implements British Direct Rule in Ireland, has set out a sharply pro-unionist agenda for her government in dealing with the past conflict in the Six Counties.

Former CIRA man shot dead in west Belfast

A man expelled from the Continuity IRA for criminal activity was shot dead yesterday [Friday] at a diesel depot he operated.

McGuinness told ‘stay away’ over banquet controversy

Sinn Fein has been urged to stay away from Easter commemorations after Martin McGuinness attended a royal banquet and toasted England’s queen, Elizabeth Windsor.

Easter commemorations face PSNI harassment

Colour party uniforms belonging to Republican Sinn Fein due to be used during an annual easter commemoration in Lurgan this Saturday have been seized during police raids in Craigavon.

Loyalist racists confront Irish language demo

Loyalists greeted members of an Irish language rally last weekend with Nazi salutes.

Banquet gesture draws Tory hate

Efforts to boost reconciliation between the 26 County state and Britain during the formal visit to London by 26-County President Michael D Higgins were undermined by a leading Tory’s call this week for the murder of Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness.

Governments working together to manage Rising commemorations

The Dublin and London governments have signalled a major effort to combat nationalist sentiment in the run-up to the anniversary of the 1916 Rising following this week’s heavily promoted state visit to London by 26-County President Michael D Higgins.

UDA violence linked to Larne arrests

The unionist paramilitary UDA are understood to be planning riots this weekend in the town of Carrickfergus, in County Antrim following serious disturbances last night.

Belfast language protest as Irish speaker faces court

Recent protests over discrimination against Irish language speakers in the north of Ireland are to reach a climax on Saturday with a major demonstration through Belfast city centre.

High-profile arrests and prosecutions as OTR furore continues

Well-known loyalist Willie Frazer attempted to personally “arrest” a republican he alleged was ‘on the run’ from a conflict-related prosecution this week. The victims’ campaigner tried moved towards mourners at a funeral in County Down, but was blocked by a line of PSNI police.

McGurk’s report to be released uncensored

Families of those killed in the McGurk’s Bar massacre have succeeded in forcing the British authorities to release an unedited report into the bombing, it has been confirmed.

Calls for recognition of Travellers’ distinct identity

A committee of the Dublin parliament has recommended that Travellers be recognised as an ethnic minority to combat discrimination as the issue begins featuring in local election campaigns in the 26 Counties.

The Battle of Clontarf

A struggle to free Ireland of foreign domination resulted in a heroic victory -- but the death of a great Irish leader -- a thousand years ago this week.

Five things we know after last night in Windsor

Relations between Britain and Ireland have now entered the realm of the surreal.

On meeting monarchy

It is obviously a matter for Sinn Fein who they meet but from the outside this looks like another ‘leadership initiative’ which has nothing to do with improving the material conditions of the working class or advancing towards the Republic.

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