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New Legislation Could Stall the Investigation Into the Murder
of Patrick Finucane
The U.K. government is expected to introduce new legislation that would hinder
an inquiry into the 1989 murder of Belfast human rights lawyer Patrick Finucane.
Since a full, public inquiry could be held under existing legislation, this should
properly be seen as yet another tactic to further delay the process and perhaps
to restrict the public nature of the proceedings.
“This push to introduce new legislation,” said Archi Pyati, Senior
Associate at Human Rights First, “suggests that the U.K. government is
actually avoiding a full, fair, and public inquiry into the murder of Patrick
Finucane.”
Deliberations over the new bill may not be finished by the end of the current
parliamentary session. Such a delay will jeopardize the integrity of evidence
and the availability of key witnesses. In addition, the new law is expected to
prevent public disclosure of incriminating findings, shielding the government
from accountability for this murder.
Patrick Finucane, a human rights lawyer, was gunned down in his Northern Ireland
home in 1989 by loyalist paramilitaries, in front of his wife and children. His
was just one among a number of killings carried out with the collusion of U.K.
security forces. Human Rights First has gathered substantial evidence showing
that members of the U.K. government colluded with assassins in order to silence
Mr. Finucane. Despite numerous requests for an investigation into the circumstances
surrounding his death, a public inquiry has not been held.
On September 16, 2004, Kenneth Barrett, a former paramilitary, was convicted
of the murder after entering a guilty plea on the first day of the trial. However,
human rights observers at the hearing were disappointed that his guilty plea
led to no significant information being made public or any steps towards getting
at the full truth of the Finucane case.
Read
HRF Letter to Tony Blair
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