19 motorway, which runs beside the cemetery. Parked on the motorway was a Ford Transit van, it seemed as though this was the killer's accomplices waiting to help make good his escape. When the killer was overpowered near the motorway, the van quickly left the scene. It was claimed later that this was an undercover RUC van. A number of questions arise, why didn't they intervene to halt the slaughter of mourners and how did the sectarian killer know that there would not be the usual police presence? Many believe that there was direct collusion between the so-called security forces and this murderer. The Inquest Five independent civil liberty organisations, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, Inquest, the National Council for Civil Liberties (London), the International League for Human Rights (New York) and Amnesty International - all of which had observers at the inquest - have criticised many aspects of the proceedings and have called for further inquiries into the killings in Gibraltar. The Amnesty International report stated that the inquest failed to answer "the fundamental issue... whether the fatal shootings were caused by what happened in the street, or whether the authorities planned in advance for the three to be shot dead".8 The inquiry by its very nature was not equipped to determine the truth. The British authorities, which might have had an interest in concealing aspects of the truth, had access prior to the inquest and during it to identities of witnesses, their statements or possible statements and were to some extent able, on grounds of availability, to dictate order of calling some witnesses. In contrast, our legal advisers had virtually no information except one ballistics report and a pathologist's report. Amnesty International in its report expressed its concern "that the legal representatives of the deceased's families were significantly and unfairly disadvantaged in comparison with the representatives for the other interested parties. The system is inherently weighted against the deceased families in preparing for cross-examination....He received the other forensic reports after the inquest began. He did not receive any of the witnesses' statements in advance, and even during the inquest he did not receive the statements made by security force personnel shortly after the incident. Without access to these statements in advance he was not able to cross-examine witnesses on the basis of what other witnesses, who testified at a later stage, said about the same incident. Thus, for example, he was not able to question the soldiers, who 8 United Kingdom: Investigating Lethal Shootings: The Gibraltar Inquest: Summary, p.iii. 20 testified in the second week of the inquest, about information which was presented in later weeks by police officers and civilian eyewitnesses. He also did not have witnesses' earlier statements to compare with their court testimony."9 Our lawyer faced numerous obstacles including for example the price of the court's daily transcripts being increased from 50p to £5 per page. Because the price was so prohibitive our lawyer could not avail of them - not so the British Ministry of Defence. The use by the British Government of Public Immunity Certificates prevented Mr. Mc Grory inquiring into many matters such as the planning of the operation, including the role of the "accessories before the fact". Finally there was the coroner's summing up of the evidence to the jury, in which he told them to avoid an open verdict. By doing this he unduly influenced these eleven men. This is especially true as after six hours of discussion the jury was deadlocked, divided 7 to 4 in favour of a "lawful killing" verdict. In normal circumstances an open verdict would have been a likely compromise, but this had been ruled out. The coroner then recalled the jury and gave them what seemed like an ultimatum to return a verdict. Two hours later they returned stating that they found, by 9 to 2 - the smallest majority allowed - the killings lawful. Despite all the disadvantages faced by our solicitor, Paddy McGrory, a man with lifelong experience as a lawyer, he firmly believed that the verdict went against the weight of the evidence, that it was a "perverse verdict". 7 Year Quest for Justice The United Kingdom Government insisted that the Gibraltar Inquest, despite its fundamental flaws, was the final word on these controversial killings. It consistently thwarted through the use of Public Interest Immunity Certificates any attempt by our families to have our case examined in the Northern Ireland courts. Eventually we brought our case first to the European Commission of Human Rights and then in February 1995 to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. On September 27th 1995 - seven years and six months after the actual killings - the court found the British Government guilty of having unlawfully killed our loved ones. It was a landmark decision, it being the first time that a signatory to the European Convention of Human Rights was found guilty of breaching Article 2 of the Convention, the Right to Life. 9 Ibid. 21 The British Government said it would "ignore" the verdict. The Deputy Prime Minister went as far as to say that the Government would do the same again. Almost exactly a year after the verdict a young Irishman, Diarmuid O'Neill, was shot dead in very similar circumstances in a house in London. The stance of the British Government must be viewed as quite unacceptable. If Britain continues to refuse to operate within the constraints of law, both national and international; if it continues to refuse to meet its specific obligations with regard to the "right to life" under the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms then it must be ostracised, and no longer treated as being part of the democratic family of nations. Niall Farrell For Further Information: Niall Farrell, 22 Mac Bride Ave., Tel/Fax:(091)751388 Email: farrellj@hotel.rtc-galway.ie AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 1997 Amnesty International Publications 1 Easton Street. London WC1X 8D United Kingdom http: www.amnesty.org UNITED KINGDOM A few deaths in custody took place in disputed circumstances. No prosecutions were brought against police or prison offi. cers in connection with deaths in custody which occurred in previous years, including in two cases where inquest juries brought in verdicts of unlawful killings. There were allegations of ill-treatment in police custody and in prisons. The European Court of Human Rights established the primacy of the prohibition of torture in a deportation case. The summer "parade" season in Northern Ireland was marked by many human rights violations by the police. Armed opposition groups were responsible for human rights abuses. The cessation of military activities called by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in September 1994 ended in February with a bomb attack in London. The Irish Continuity Army claimed responsibility for several bombings and attempted bombings in Northern Ireland. Loyalist armed groups, including the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), officially maintained their cessation of military activities. An internal feud within the Irish National Liberation Army led to six deaths, including that of nine-year-old Barbara McAlorum, before one of the two factions, the GHQ Staff, disbanded itself in September. In July, the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 became law, extending the "fast track" appeal procedures introduced in previous legislation to a broad range of asylum cases, including those where the applicant is from a country on a "white list", a list of countries where the authorities consider there to be no serious risk of persecution. Appeal rights in the majority of "safe third country" cases were effectively abolished. The Act also provided for the withdrawal of welfare benefits to the majority of asylum-seekers. This latter provision was legally challenged on several occasions. In March the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Dis UNITED KINGDOM crimination expressed concerns, during its examination of the United Kingdom's Thirteenth Periodic Report, that a disproportionate number of members of minority groups were the victims of deaths in custody and ill-treatment. There were a few deaths in custody in disputed circumstances during the year. Ibrahima Sey, a Gambian asylum-seeker, died on 16 March shortly after being restrained by police officers; he was sprayed with cs gas after being handcuffed. The introduction of cs gas as standard police! equipment was approved in August, despite concern about its effects. Other deaths in custody being investigated by the police included those of Ziya Mustafa Birikim, Oscar Okoye, Ahmed El-Gammel and Bosey Davis. In Northern Ireland, 36-year-old Jim McDonnell died, allegedly from a heart attack, after being forcibly restrained in Maghaberry Prison in March. No prosecutions were brought against officers involved in the deaths of Brian Douglas or Wayne Douglas (see Amnesty International Report 1996). The inquest into the death of Brian Douglas ruled in August that he had died of "misadventure": the officers' conduct was lawful but events took a turn that led to death. The jury was told that Brian Douglas suffered six hairline fractures to the skull, consistent with his having been hit with a baton. In November, the inquest into the death of Wayne Douglas was told by eye-witnesses that a police officer knelt on Wayne Douglas' head while he was handcuffed and held face down on the ground by at least four other officers. The jury found that his death was accidentally caused by stress, exhaustion and positional asphyxia. A police officer charged with a disciplinary offence in relation to the death of Joy Gardner during an attempted deportation was acquitted in January (see Amnesty International Report 1996). Another officer was acquitted in December on a charge of actual bodily harm in connection with the death of Gary Allsopp (see Amnesty International Report 1996). No prosecutions were brought against police officers involved in the deaths of Richard O'Brien and Shiji Lapite, despite inquest jury verdicts of unlawful killing (see Amnesty International Report 1996). The January inquest was told that Shiji Lapite had sustained 36 to 45 separate 323 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 1997 |