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INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES USED against the so-called Hooded Men during internment in Northern Ireland would be torture if deployed today, the Court of Appeal in Belfast has ruled.
In a majority decision, senior judges also held that the group had a legitimate expectation police would further investigate claims that their treatment was sanctioned by the British Government.
A probe carried out after allegations of ministerial involvement emerged in a 2014 television documentary was found to be irrational and failed to honour an undertaking given by former Chief Constable George Hamilton.
But the court rejected claims that the State was in breach of a legal obligation to carry out a full and independent inquiry into the affair – because the events occurred decades before human rights legislation came into force.
Appeal
The verdict came in a failed appeal by the Police Service of Northern Ireland against a previous ruling that its decision to end preliminary inquiries into the men’s deep interrogation back in 1971 was seriously flawed and should be quashed.
Surviving members of the 14 hooded men brought the original case against the Chief Constable, Secretary of State and the Department of Justice.
They argued the authorities have failed to comply with duties under the European Convention on Human Rights to properly probe and order a full inquiry into what happened to them while interned at British Army facilities in Ballykelly, Co Derry.
Five techniques were used against the men while they were held without trial: being hooded, made to stand spread-eagled in a stress position against a wall and beaten if they fell; forced to listen to constant loud static noise; and deprived of sleep, food and water.
Proceedings were brought by one of the Hooded Men, Francis McGuigan, and the daughter of Sean McKenna, a school caretaker taken from his Newry home in August 1971.
Mary McKenna claimed her father was bitten by a soldier’s dog and had to drink from the animal’s dish in treatment that “ruined” him and worsened a heart condition that led to his death four years later.
Amid claims the men’s treatment was sanctioned by the State, the court heard former British Prime Minister Edward Heath was involved in the decision-making process.
Stormont’s Prime Minister at the time, Brian Faulkner, was also personally briefed on the deployment of the techniques, according to their case.
RUC Special Branch officers were said to have been taught the methods by soldiers but sought assurances of immunity from prosecution before carrying them out.
Counsel for the Chief Constable and the Government has insisted, however, that a former British minister who alleged predecessors had authorised torture in Northern Ireland later corrected his assessment.
Memo
The claim made by Merlyn Rees in a newly discovered memo is central to the case. In 1977 Rees, then Home Secretary, sent a letter to Prime Minister James Callaghan setting out his views on procedures deployed against the men, the court heard.
In the memo he states it was his view that “the decision to use methods of torture in Northern Ireland in 1971/72 was taken by ministers – in particular Lord Carrington, then Secretary of State for Defence”.
The document, uncovered from the National Archives in London, featured in an RTE documentary in 2014 and led to questions being raised at the Northern Ireland Policing Board.
But it was argued that within weeks Mr Rees’ assessment of the men’s treatment was modified to having faced deep interrogation.
It was stressed that in 1978 the European Court of Human Rights held the techniques constituted inhuman and degrading treatment – but fell short of torture.
Ruling on the appeal today, however, Lord Chief Justice Morgan and Lord Justice Stephens said:
“We are satisfied that the treatment to which Mr McGuigan and Mr McKenna were subject would, if it occurred today, properly be characterised as torture bearing in mind that the Convention is a living instrument.”
During the case lawyers for the group claimed a review into the deep interrogation methods deployed against them had been too narrow.
The court also heard how Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly had pressed the then Chief Constable at a Policing Board meeting in July 2014 on what action was being taken on assertions in official documents that Lord Carrington authorised the use of “methods of torture” in Northern Ireland.
He received a response that the PSNI will assess any allegation or emerging evidence of criminal behaviour with a view to substantiating it and identifying any evidence to justify a prosecution.
The two appeal judges held: “We are satisfied that the Chief Constable’s answer to the question posed by Mr Kelly at the meeting of the Policing Board gave rise to a legitimate expectation of the type described in the judgment.
“The Chief Constable has not resiled from that undertaking.”
They went on to state that an investigation carried out by a researcher on behalf of the now defunct Historical Enquiries Team “was irrational and did not honour the undertaking given by the Chief Constable”.
Acknowledging the passage of time may hamper to progress of any further probe, the judges accepted civil servants should protect the political reputation of ministers in a modern democracy.
But they cautioned: “There is a real danger that the rule of law is undermined if that extends to protecting ministers from investigation in respect of criminal offences possibly committed from them.”
Dissenting from his judicial colleagues, Sir Donnell Deeny held that the decision by October 2014 not to investigate further was one the Chief Constable was lawfully entitled to make.
He also said: “It seems to me that the police have much more pressing duties of crime prevention and law enforcement than to conduct historical research into the matters of which the applicants complain.”
‘Lasting and terrible effects’
Outside court McGuigan insisted: “Today’s judgment makes it expressly clear that the treatment that I suffered at the hands of ministers was torture and should be investigated
by an independent police force.
This treatment cannot be forgotten, it has had lasting and terrible effects on my mental health to this day, and I can only hope that this judgment will assist someone somewhere in the world that suffers torture at the hand of their Government.
His solicitor, Darragh Mackin, added: “Today is a significant as the court firmly said that the rule of law is undermined if protection provided extends to protecting ministers from
investigation in respect of criminal offences committed by them.
“It is now essential that an effective and independent investigation is commissioned without any further delay.”
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The UK and Nth Ireland authorities will drag this out until all the victims are dead. There will be no justice for them.
@Dave Doyle: I fear you are correct.
@Dave Doyle: unfortunately for the victims Dave you are right. That’s been there tactics for years and it’s not going to change now God help them.
the brits were a dirty mean army and the free state stood idly by
@☘: What would you have suggested they have done?
@☘: you mean ruc not Irish men
@☘: In 1971 the Irish Republic was a border line 3rd world nation that had a military that was non effective. We had no credibility other than our,ability to export our citizens..what would you have us do that would not have made the situation worse in both sides of the border? This country was 20 years behind the average European nation despite the effects of WW2 on those countries..and you wanted us to intervene in a situation that a percentage if or politicians and population were contributing to?
@Paul Murphy: they could have shouted from the roof tops at every UN meeting atleast and got the Irish Americans involved also. They knew about collusion from its very inception in the early 70’s but stayed silent on that also, instead focusing their efforts solely on condemning the Provos at every turn. They might not have had much resources but they had a hell of a lot more than the people of the Bogside or Falls had who were being slaughtered by one of the worlds largest economies.
@☘: While i do not think they could have done anything, to this day they still stay silent prefering to shout about the wrong doings of the provo’s. A lot of energy directect at the easy target but challenge the big boy’s? Not a chance.
@Paul Murphy: maybe arm the group that was trying to fight the British like any other country would of done but the reality was the cowards down the south covered up British terrorism because they didnt want northern nationalists rocking the boat in Dublin while they robbed the state blind for the past 100 years.
@Paul Murphy: well the very least they could have done was not to pretend it wasn’t happening
@☘: the free state ended in the thirties. Every action of the UK in northern Ireland cannot be scrutinised by its neighbour to the south. It is an utter disgrace that this happened but it was collusion from the prime minister down.
@Seamus Donnelly: yes genius..arm them and give the British army an excuse to come down south and put history back 50 years at that point. As for the UN option ..it wasn’t there. The UN was broke in 1971 after 10 years in the Congo and no one was interested in castigating the UK after all the Americans were busy in Vietnam and the Middle East..it was considered the UKs problem let them deal with it. Plus Ireland and the UK weren’t in the EEC and 99% of Irish exports went to the UK so we couldn’t afford economic sanctions against the Republic. Sure to the rest of the world we look bad..but we were a very small young country trying very hard to survive without setting our nearest neighbour against us. Idealism vs Reality
@☘: Nobody said it wasn’t happening they just refused to confirm it. These are interrogation techniques taught to this day ostensibly for counter interrogation..but this is how it’s done. When you have an army involved in civilian matters they will use those methods that they are trained in and they know they work. The army was given too much control to supplement an ineffective police force. Lessons have been learned in how armies should interact with civilian populations unfortunately the army in question had never been deployed in a situation where the media were watching and every wrong move pushed the people closer to the terrorists.
@Paul Murphy: ya right you just proved my point cowards down south were afraid of the brits so they just let them burn and kill nationalists out of there homes as long as there not on my door steo who cares
@Paul Murphy: whats a terrorist
@Seamus Donnelly: protecting that which had been achieved since independence with a view to improving the lot of a very impoverished state.The government did establish centres in the event that the nationalists in the North did decide to come south to avoid the violence. The government did that which was required to protect the sovereignty of the Republic and those living in it. If you expected that any Irish government was going to invade the North and expose the people of the south to conflict ,even those who were staunch Republicans were never going to do that. Calling us cowards 50 years later is really sour grapes more than anything elsr
@Seamus Donnelly: Depends on your standards
Your freedom fighter is my terrorist.
@Paul Murphy: listen to yourself your deluaded why should any Irish person have to move south it is there country has much has it is yours sadly and i was not expecting that joke of an army you call the Irish army to invade it could of supplied funds and arms like the Irish in the USA did but the cowards sided with the brits instead and i am from the south and the fact of the matter is the majority of people and governments in the south during the war were cowards they did nothing only protecting there own pigs in the trough at all costs. Like at least ya know where ya stand with loyalists and unionists but what really annoys me is the west brits like yourself that try and rewrite history to hide the fact that the irish state abandoned there fellow irish men in there time of need.
@Paul Murphy: and in your opinion did the British army terrorise the catholics in the North
@Paul Murphy: that was after the were burned out in bombay street and the world had started watching
@Paul Murphy: im not from the North so why would i go away its people like you who are racist towards other people from the same country.
@Paul Murphy: why do you not care for your fellow Irish men in the north anything ive said about you is sadly true but thank god people like you are in the minority and going by the polls the majority in south want reunification.
@Seamus Donnelly: Why am I debating this with someone who is not even old enough to remember pre GFA..who is a You Tube Republican nurtured by Mary Lou and her tribe.Oh well ! Should have checked earlier
@Paul Murphy: i know a lot more of what went on during the troubles than you so dont be going on like you have lived through it when you were safe in your house down the south believing everything you see on RTE and BBC. Ya didnt protect anything sorry to tell ya ya only protected the ones in Dublin filling their pockets.
@Paul Murphy: on about me calling ya names i never brought your age into it.
@Seamus Donnelly: ya think…
They were used as test dummies for future wars for Christ sake. Everyone who was interned should be entitled to compo nevermind these lads who imagine still have nightmares over this. Between this, ballymurphy, them dragging their heels over bloody Sunday and general disdain for NI over brexit is it any wonder attacks have gone up x9 in the last year.
Where’s the SF bashing? Almost disappointed in ye. All that time these acts were being committed the best our nation could offer was blame. I guess we’ll just have to wait for the next unclaimed safe-bomb to be found and we can resume normal service.
Unfortunately the Irish government behaved like cowards they had full knowledge of what was going on and didn’t intervene and that’s something which was continued so while the British were totally out of order the Irish government answered let the I r a deal with it so thank god for SINN FEIN AND THE PROVISIONAL IRA
@Paul Murphy: murder and mayhem achieved exactly what was set out; divide and conquer. Let’s not pretend the provisional IRA were the only ones at it, or the ones that started it. Much like the IRA years earlier in the Republic; it was a response rather than an instigation. The filling of graveyards started well before any IRA, N or S.
Also I don’t see how any of the elements of the dysfunctional state you set out can be in any way levied at the IRA, these things have existed on this island, again, far longer than any IRA, N or S. If anything these are good reasons for justified resistance, just like the elements of the Irish War of Independence. The atrocities the Brits (supposedly not a terrorist organisation) have committed, lied about, covered up, lied about and postponed at every possible opportunity shows that it also contained the past, present and future elements of the Irish Civil War.
History has shown that the grievances of the anti-treaty contingent of the 1920’s was bang on. Yet these grudges against them have been passed down, we still blame the very people locked in that ancient conflict and we side with the inflictor of the worst atrocities this island has ever seen.
Just listen to some of the public conversations from high ranking tories and unionists on Brexit. If you think people of this ilk magically got smarter between 1922-2016 then good luck to ya.
@Paul Murphy: Here is a few facts for ya paul the first innocent civilian, RUC officer and british soldier that killed in the troubles was killed by loyalists them very same loyalists were trained by the british mi5. There was no IRA in 1969 the IRA didnt kill a british soldier till after 1970 so dont be coming on here spreading west brit lies because the facts will always be told over 75% of IRA killings were british combatants in any recent war that is high well compared to the british anyway 85% of there victims was innocent civilians ( mostly catholics) and over 90 % of loyalist murders were innocent catholics so you tell me who was the terrorists.
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