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Latest News - 12 February, 2009
Sinn Féin west Belfast MP Gerry Adams yesterday unveiled a mural to murdered human rights lawyer Pat Finucane.
The event which was chaired by Sinn Féin Councillor Marie Cush, was also addressed by Pat Finucane's brother Seamus and Mark Thompson from Relatives for Justice.
Mr. Adams commended those who designed the mural and all of those involved in organising the series of events this week to celebrate Pat Finucane's life and to mark his murder by the British state and UDA.
The Sinn Féin leader outlined the extent of collusion between unionist death squads and the British state in the murder of Pat Finucane, and linked this to the concern many victim families and Sinn Féin have about the role of the British state in respect of truth and truth recovery and the recent Consultation Group on the past's recommendations: "the role of the British state in Pat Finucane's murder, and through collusion in the murder of hundreds of other citizens, is one reason why Sinn Féin has serious reservations around the proposal from the Consultative Group on the Past for the creation of a Legacy Commission appointed by the British government."
Mr. Adams said: "I also want to commend Pat's family who along with hundreds of other families, have campaigned relentlessly for many years for the truth into the deaths of their loved ones.
The dignity and courage they have shown is in stark contrast to the behaviour of the British state.
Thursday is the 20th anniversary of Pat Finucane's death.
Pat was a good, conscientious solicitor who worked long difficult hours, under trying conditions, representing his clients.
He came from a working class background. In fact he and I went to the same school on the Falls Road.
He was a lawyer working within a unionist dominated legal and judicial process that had been corrupted by years of British manipulation and a succession of new and ever more repressive laws.
All of this was designed to maximise the power of the state and reduce the rights of citizens.
Pat was also a husband to Geraldine and a father to three young children.
But his devotion to human rights, his diligence in pursuit of his calling and his success even when up against a judicial structure as biased as that which existed in the north of Ireland, had also brought him to the attention of others.
Within the RUC he was a figure of hate. We now know that British intelligence agencies were plotting against him.
Loyalist death squads, heavily infiltrated by agents and informers were being pointed at him as someone - in their words - to be 'took out'.
The extent of this state collusion is illustrated by those involved in Pat's murder.
The leader of the UDA group which carried out the killing was a Special Branch agent - Tommy Lyttle.
The man who subsequently confessed to being the UDA gunman who killed Pat Finucane was Ken Barrett, also a Special Branch agent.
The UDA man who supplied the gun was William Stobie, a Special Branch agent - later killed in 2001 by the UDA when he threatened to lift the lid on the Finucane case.
And the man who provided the intelligence for the killing was Brian Nelson, a British army agent.
Pat's murder also came just weeks after British Home Office minister Douglas Hogg stood up in the British Parliament and claimed that some solicitors in the North of Ireland were 'unduly sympathetic to the IRA'.
Nelson, it should also be remembered was centrally involved in the importation of South African weapons in 1988.
The impact of this weapons shipment, which the British knew about from Nelson, from other agents in the north, as well as in South Africa, is to be found in the statistics of murder.
In the three years prior to receiving this weapons shipment the unionist death squads had killed 34 people.
In the three years after the shipment they killed 224 and wounded countless scores more.
The dramatic rise during this period in the number of Sinn Féin activists and family members being killed can also be traced directly to this fact and to the information the Special Branch and British agencies were passing on to their agents within the unionist death squads.
In the following six years three Sinn Féin Councillors, 11 party activists, and 7 family members, including brothers, sons, spouse and partners were to be killed.
Many others were to be seriously wounded. Republican homes and Sinn Fein offices became the frequent targets of attack by loyalist death squads.
Since his death Pat's family has battled for an independent, international public inquiry into his murder.
They have campaigned tirelessly and have won significant international support, including from the new US President Barack Obama.
The British system resists this demand.
Why? Because Pat Finucane's murder and those involved with it highlights the depth and extent of collusion between British forces, unionist death squads and the British political establishment.
In addition, the role of the British state in Pat Finucane's murder, and through collusion in the murder of hundreds of other citizens, is one reason why Sinn Féin has serious reservations around the proposal from the Consultative Group on the Past for the creation of a Legacy Commission appointed by the British government.
This is not the independent and international commission, established by a reputable international body like the UN, that Sinn Fein believes is necessary to properly address this issue.
Clearly, the British State are protagonists in this conflict, they are not innocent observers.
It is important therefore that we continue to support the Finucane family in their demand for an independent international judicial inquiry.
A candle-lit vigil was held last night to mark the 20th anniversary of the murder of high-profile solicitor Pat Finucane.
Among those at the vigil in north Belfast were relatives of Mr Finucane and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness.
Mr Finucane's son John said it was important to remember his father.
"Twenty years on, I'm overwhelmed by the amount of people who have come out to remember him and support us as a family in what we've been trying to achieve."
Mr Finucane was shot 14 times as he was eating a Sunday meal at home. The attack, which wounded his wife, was witnessed by the couple's three children.
In 2004, Canadian judge Peter Cory recommended a public inquiry be held into the allegations of collusion in the murder of Mr Finucane.
In 2003, former Metropolitan Police chief John Stevens found there had been British State collusion in Mr Finucane's murder.
He said the killing could have been prevented and the RUC murder investigation should have resulted in the early arrest and detection of his killers.
Human rights group Amnesty International has launched a campaign to press the British government for a fully independent inquiry into the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.
Today is the 20th anniversary of one of the most controversial killings of the Conflict.
The 39-year-old father was shot dead by loyalists back by the British State in front of his family at their north Belfast home on 12 February 1989.
The British Government has offered a limited inquiry but has refused a full independent inquiry as recommended.
Amnesty's Britain Director Kate Allen has criticised plans to hold a public inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005, which last year the UN Human Rights Committee criticised for allowing 'the Government minister who established an inquiry to control important aspects of that inquiry'.
"On this day in 1989, Patrick Finucane was shot dead in front of his wife and three children," said Amnesty International Britain director Kate Allen.
"Twenty years on, the truth about his killing is still kept from them and from the public.
"With each day that passes, the chances of an inquiry uncovering that truth get smaller.
"Already at least two potentially crucial witnesses have died."
Amnesty has now launched a global online appeal on its British and international websites urging people to write both to Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward demanding an independent inquiry.
The Finucane family has refused to accept the inquiry offered by Downing Street and demanded a probe free of British government control.
This 20th anniversary of Mr Finucane's death will be marked by a major conference at Trinity College Dublin this weekend.
Mr Finucane's widow Geraldine, who was wounded in the same attack, will address the event, as will former UN investigator Param Cumaraswamy and Canadian judge Peter Cory, who each investigated the solicitor's murder.