Rosemary Nelson
Rosemary Nelson (4 September 1958 – 15 March 1999) was a prominent Northern Irish human rights lawyer who was killed by a Loyalist paramilitary group in 1999. There are credible allegations that the RUC and British Security Forces were involved in her killing, [1] – a subsequent Inquiry into the killing Reported on 23 May 2011. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]
Career
Nelson, née Magee, obtained her law degree at Queens University, Belfast (QUB). She worked with other solicitors for a number of years before opening her own practice. Nelson represented clients in a number of high profile cases (including Michael Caraher, the South Armagh Sniper, as well as a republican paramilitary accused of killing two Royal Ulster Constabulary officers). She also represented the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition in nearby Portadown in the long-running Drumcree conflict against the Orange Order and RUC.
Death
Nelson claimed that she had received death threats from members of the RUC as a result of her defence work. Many of her clients claimed that RUC officers had threatened her through them several times. In 1998, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Param Curamaswamy, noted these threats in his annual report, and stated in a television interview that he believed her life could be in danger. He made recommendations to the British government concerning threats from police against lawyers, which were not acted upon. Later that year, Nelson testified before a committee of the United States Congress investigating human rights in Northern Ireland, confirming that death threats had been made against her and her three children.[17]
Nelson was assassinated, at the age of 40, by a car bomb outside her home in Lurgan, County Armagh, in 1999. An Ulster Loyalist paramilitary group calling itself the Red Hand Defenders claimed responsibility for the killing.[18] She is survived by her widower and their three children.
Posthumous
In 2004, the Cory Collusion Inquiry recommended that the UK Government hold an inquiry into the circumstances of Nelson's death.
The resulting inquiry into her assassination opened at the Craigavon Civic Centre, Craigavon, County Armagh, in April 2005.[19] In September 2006 the British Security Service MI5 announced it would be represented at the inquiry. This move provoked criticism from Nelson's family, who reportedly expressed concerns that MI5 would remove sensitive or classified information.[20]
The Inquiry published its final report on 23 May 2011 [2] but there are many in Northern Ireland who see it as the culmination of yet another clever exercise in covering up the true extent of British State collusion with Loyalist death squads in the Province:
The findings of the official inquiry into the murder of lawyer Rosemary Nelson, delivered after a six-year investigation, continue the cover-up by the British and Northern Ireland state apparatus.[21]
See also
- File:CoryNelson.pdf - Cory Collusion Inquiry Report 1 April 2004
- File:Nelson Inquiry Final Report.pdf - The Rosemary Nelson Inquiry Final Report - 23 May 2011 HMSO
- Pat Finucane
- Robert Hamill
- Billy Wright
References
- ↑ File:CoryNelson.pdf - Cory Collusion Inquiry Report 1 April 2004 HMSO
- ↑ a b File:Nelson Inquiry Final Report.pdf - The Rosemary Nelson Inquiry Report - 23 May 2011 HMSO
- ↑ http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/04/rosemary-nelson-murder-public-inquiry The Guardian
- ↑ http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:viMGyftsfKAJ:chrissmith.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hres128.pdf+rosemary+nelson+human+rights&hl=en&gl=ie&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShbfD-ouIyIeHnQ5oiH6GHFdhBDsZ-cSoKYYTuWLB6FiUgWlAQtreivgwD8RmD2ZNxbBBjFiouz8Uv_-ELyH3p7McsSVtE2rU4eOjQpw6lxBw78BacDuSMXcgyRFWcA8uXW9mHT&sig=AHIEtbQOrdC12qn9SEqdTx5CZ8se-EzmDw US house of Representatives
- ↑ http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/defenders/hrd_n_ireland/nelson_elisa_article.pdf Human Rights First report
- ↑ http://www.faqs.org/abstracts/Social-sciences/Human-rights-hero-Lucas-Guttentag-International-human-rights-treaties-can-make-a-difference-US-imple.html
- ↑ http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-58180438.html Six different Human Rights organisations
- ↑ http://www.nacdl.org/public.nsf/newsreleases/99mn004?opendocument
- ↑ http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/loyalist-mckeown-police-asked-me-to-shoot-rosemary-nelson-dead-13922418.html
- ↑ http://www.relativesforjustice.com/rosemary-nelson.htm Relatives for Justice
- ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/nireland/stories/bomb031699.htm
- ↑ http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/1999/03/16/ihead.htm
- ↑ http://www.nycbar.org/pdf/report/uploads/20071765-BriefHistoryofNYCBarWorkonNorthernIreland.pdf
- ↑ http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-816845-man-held-over-rosemary-nelson-murder.do
- ↑ http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/03/12/an_irish_champion_of_human_rights/
- ↑ http://i2.democracynow.org/1999/3/18/who_killed_rosemary_nelson
- ↑ UNHCR press release UNHCHR
- ↑ BBC News report March 1999
- ↑ BBC News report on inquiry
- ↑ BBC News report September 2006 on MI5 involvement in Nelson murder inquiry
- ↑ Inquiry findings continue cover-up of 1999 Rosemary Nelson assassination by Steve James - 2 June 2011 - WSWS
