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Amnesty International issued its
first 'urgent action' notice for
Northern Ireland this summer, over
Damien Austin, who claimed he
had been hit in the stomach and
nearly choked by the RUC, and
told he would be shot by loyalists. Such claims have been fiercely
denied by the chief constable, Hugh
Annesley. "These claims are being
purveyed because the interviewing of terrorist suspects is central to our
success in obtaining evidence and
information," he wrote in a letter to
The Guardian recently. "Any area
of police success will be targeted
by the paramilitary organisations with a campaign of spurious com
plaints and propaganda by them
and their political bedfellows."
But the issue continues to dog the NIO. Last year Lord Colville,
who reviews emergency legisla tion for the government, suggested
mute video-recordings in interview
rooms might prevent both abuse
and false allegations. Successive reports by Amnesty
International and Helsinki Watch
this summer raised similar criti
cisms of physical beatings. Finally, last month the United Nations Com
mittee Against Torture in Geneva
expressed "serious concerns" about
interview practices at Castlereagh. The government has promised
a statutory code of practice for in
terviews. It has also floated the idea
of an independent commissioner to
monitor the holding centre?
though questions about their inde
pendence would be bound to arise.
In recent weeks, fewer solici
tors have been excluded from see
ing their clients during the first 48 hours of detention. Whether this
will affect the number of complaints remains to be seen.
Owen Bowcott
THOUSANDS of students from colleges across Northern Ireland converged on Belfast City Hall last month to highlight the growing pressure on student
budgets, with grants frozen in favour of top-up loans, and the right to claim
social security benefits removed.
Organised by the National Union of Students/Union of Students in Ireland, the demonstration called on the junior Stormont minister Lord Belstead
urgently to review the student loans regime and to restore lost entitlements.
According to Richie Carrothers, regional convenor of student unions in
Northern Ireland, "Many students are living on the poverty line."
Justice vindicated?
THE acquittal of the Dublin repub lican Dessie Ellis at the Old Bailey in London last month added an
other twist to the saga of extradi
tion. Mr Ellis, who was charged with explosives offences, had prob
ably faced 25 years if found guilty. Mr Ellis put his acquittal down
to two factors. The defence argued that he was being subjected to 'dou
ble jeopardy', since he had already served a sentence in Portlaoise for
the same offences. But he also
claimed that there had been "a sea
change in attitude within Britain
due to the Guildford and Birming ham cases". The jury were pre
pared to listen to his defence, he
said. "Previously, there was such a
bias against the Irish I wouldn't
have stood a chance."
Mr Ellis was the first person to
be extradited under the 1987 extra
dition legislation and the seventh
from the republic to the UK since
the Dublin Supreme Court started
the process back in 1982. Extraor
dinarily, his was the fifth of these cases in which the prosecution case
has failed?in the other two mini
mal sentences were handed down.
Such figures can only damage the cause of extradition, but the
twist is that those opposing extradi
tion have always claimed no Irish
person could get a fair trial in a
British court in a 'political' case.
As Ellis himself pointed out, judge and jury "could hardly have been
fairer". A major plank in the anti
extradition argument has gone. There have been important de
velopments in other extradition
cases involving three republicans who escaped from Belfast prison in
1981.
Paul 'Dingus' Magee failed to
appear in the Supreme Court in October?he looked certain to be
sent back to Northern Ireland to
serve life for the 1980 murder of an
SAS captain, Herbert Westmacott.
Mr Magee was on bail and living in
Kerry and, believing his appeal was
bound to fail, went on the run.
Though his action may endanger the chances of others getting bail,
there is sympathy in republican cir
cles for Mr Magee, since "Dingus didn't stand a chance".
The UK's success with him was
countered by the decision by the
Supreme Court last month that the
offence of possession of an auto
matic weapon by Anthony Sloan
and Michael 'Beaky' McKee was
of a political nature, and that they should therefore not be extradited
for it. There had been a possibility, as one lawyer put it, of the court
arguing that there was no "real dis
tinction between possession with
intent and use", but it didn't.
Pressure followed on the repub lic' s government, to amend the 1987
extradition legislation so that pos session with intent to endanger life?and not just use?would nec
essarily preclude claiming the 'po litical offence' exemption. The
minister for justice, Ray Burke, said
the law would be reviewed.
Mr Sloan had also been charged with kidnapping, for which he would have been extradited. But
the time he had spent in Portlaoise
prison counted against his sentence, so it was judged he had no more time to serve and he was freed.
Mr McKee had won his appeal against extradition in the High Court on the possession offence. It looked
certain that the Supreme Court
would uphold that decision, as in
deed it did. But he was arrested in
early November in west Belfast.
He now faces the probability of
having to serve his full sentence,
which, even with full remission,
would mean about 12 years. Re
publicans are angry because of the
amount of time, money and effort
put into fighting his case.
Why did he return to Northern
Ireland? Speaking last year from
his home in Tallaght, Mr McKee said how much he missed his na
tive Ballymurphy. "The best place in the world" was his description of
the west Belfast ghetto. Some months ago, his wife went
back to Belfast, and Mr McKee
followed. One Sinn Fein source
said: "Beaky simply couldn't cope with life in the south. Never under
estimate the power of the ghetto."
Jonathan Moore
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^B m^mWWW
Dr G O Simms DR George Otto Simms, the former
Church of Ireland primate, died last month in a Dublin hospital,
having suffered a stroke in Septem ber. He was 81.
George Simms exercised a
unique influence over his church.
He epitomised the humility of the scholar, Christian compassion, the
quiet dignity of a man who made
friends easily, and the love of life
which stems from a deep Christian
faith. He was a very special person. He had an intense love of Ire
land and her people. As a chaplain to Trinity College, he is remem
bered with affection by generations of students. He went on to become
archbishop of Dublin and, later,
archbishop of Armagh. His kindness, personal integrity
and devotion to the Anglican ethos
were obvious. His contribution to
ecumenical endeavour and his stud
ies of Celtic Christianity made him one of the most respected church
people of his generation. When he came to Armagh,
Northern Ireland was facing the
first episodes of the current 'trou
bles'. Those who hoped for an out
spoken leader who would manifest
the 'Protestant stance' were to be
disappointed. He saw his role as
spiritual leader, advocating recon
ciliation, understanding and prayer. His co-operation with Cardinal
Conway greatly aided the setting
up of the Ballymascanlon inter
church conference. His remarkable
gift of identifying with individuals made it difficult to tie any label to
him, and his ministry in Armagh is
remembered with love and respect
by many Protestants and Catholics.
My abiding memory is of his kindness and warmth. Ireland has
lost a spiritual leader of great stat
ure. And the Church of Ireland has lost a leader whose contribution
will rarely, if ever, be equalled. Dr Simms is survived by his
wife, Mercy Felicia, three sons and
two daughters.
Archbishop Robin Eames
FORTNIGHT DECEMBER 7
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