A British solution to a British problem

A Letter from Ireland

a Chara,

As you know the British Government is progressing legislation in Westminster that will end the rights of families bereaved in the conflict to an inquest, judicial investigation, and access to the courts. They will grant immunity in exchange for an untested statement.

These proposals are opposed by all victims, all Irish and British political parties, the Irish Government, US Congress, the EU, and the UN.

The proposals are designed solely to stem the stream of revelations on the role of Britain in the murder and cover-up of citizens. The cost will be to truth, justice, reconciliation, and our peace agreements.

At present the legislation is in the House of Lords before passing to the House of Commons. This week the House of Lords voted to remove the immunity clauses from the Bill. Did the British Government see sense and listen to the Lords? No, they committed to adding the immunity clauses back when the legislation returns to the House of Commons.

This is a government that listens to no one not even their own House of Lords. But that was not the end of the actions this week.

(NOTE: Tell your U.S. Senators & Representatives that they need to hold the British Government to account: return to working jointly with the Irish government, honor the Stormont Agreement of 2014, scrap Legacy legislation, & end unilateral action in the areas of legacy, truth, & justice. https://ujoin.co/campaigns/2405/actions/public?action_id=2646)

In August 1971 the British Government authorized the introduction of Internment. This gave the government the power to indefinitely detain someone in prison without a trial. Yes your read that right, you could be arrested and jailed without any trial. It was a power used in a decade from partition through to 1975. It was used to imprison my grandfather in the late 1930s and early 1940s. It was used against two of my uncles in the 1970s.

The same powers were used to imprison Gerry Adams in 1972. Records show that the British did not even follow their own “legal” procedures when interning Gerry and others. A court has recently found that his detention was illegal. This in turn overturned a conviction for attempting to escape while interned in jail.

Not only was internment morally repugnant and unjust, it was also illegally operated in many cases.

You would think that a British Government would hang its head in shame at Internment without trial. That they would move to redress this denial of the basic right to liberty and years lost to illegal detention.

But no, Lord Caine from the British Government has stated that they will introduce a further amendment to their legislation to stop Gerry Adams and others from seeking compensation for unlawful detention during internment.

The British government is standing over an unjust and illegally operated scheme that was imprisoned without trial over two thousand people.

Denied justice in 1971. Denied justice again in 2023. The British solution to a British problem: cover up and change the law.

Is mise,

Ciarán

Ciarán Quinn is the Sinn Féin Representative to North America. Each week he writes a letter from Ireland with news and analysis. It is featured in the weekly Friends of Sinn Féin USA Newsletter. Be sure you are subscribed to stay up to date.