Westminster Parliament committee backs immunity for British Army killers and torturers in Ireland

Defence Committee member Bob Stewart told the BBC in January that he was “kind of a torturer” during his time as a soldier in Ireland in the1970s

THE British Parliament’s Defence Committee has thrown its weight behind the campaign for immunity for British soldiers responsible for killings during the conflict in the North.

Amnesty International described it as “an utter betrayal of victims’ fundamental rights to justice”.

The BBC reported that the committee “has backed a statute of limitations stopping investigation or prosecution of former British soldiers for murders during the Troubles” [our emphasis].

The move comes in the committee’s report, The Investigation into Fatalities in Northern Ireland Involving British Personnel.

It is being seen by nationalists and republicans as an endorsement of the campaign being waged by British former military personnel for immunity from investigation.

There is a drive backed largely by unionist and Tory MPs and the right-wing media to force the authorities to provide legislative cover for British Army personnel (including undercover death squads such as the FRU, MRF and SAS) involved in killings and torturing prisoners and internees during the British military’s “Operation Banner”.

This legislative cover, in the form of a statute of limitations, would shield former British service personnel from “legal pursuit”, according to Tory MP Dr Julian Lewis. Lewis is described by The Daily Telegraph as “one of the most vigorous right-wingers in the Commons”.

Tory MP Colonel Bob Stewart, who served during the conflict in Derry as a British Army military intelligence officer and elsewhere as a commanding officer, is a prominent member of the Defence Committee.

In January, he told BBC Radio 5 Live that he was “kind of a torturer” during his time as a soldier in Ireland in the 1970s and it was “sometimes” justified.

The Defence Committee also includes amongst its 11 members the East Belfast DUP MP, Gavin Robinson.

Robinson excused the report’s recommendations as “justifiable justice”.

He went on to say that he was delighted the committee backed his amendment that this immunity would be extended to include members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and unspecified “other security personnel”.

Rejecting the Defence Committee’s call, Amnesty International said:

“The House of Commons Defence Select Committee’s call for an end to investigations for killings and torture carried out by members of the UK armed services during three decades of political violence in Northern Ireland is an utter betrayal of victims’ fundamental rights to justice.”

Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland Programme Director, said it would “in effect, be the granting of a blanket amnesty for human rights abuses committed by former members of the security forces in Northern Ireland”, adding:

 “Any such move by the UK Government would fly in the face of international human rights standards and perpetuate impunity.”