British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair was today accused of devaluing human rights by failing to back a bid to kick two soldiers who murdered a Belfast teenager out of the British army.
SDLP leader and Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister, Mr Mark Durkan, hit out at Mr Blair's stance on the 10th anniversary of Peter McBride's shooting.
He declared: "The British government's treatment of the McBride family makes a mockery of basic standards of justice and human rights."
Mr Durkan also called on Mr Blair to meet relatives of the dead teenager to explain his reasons for not endorsing their campaign to oust Mark Wright and James Fisher.
The senior backbench Labour MP, Mr Kevin McNamara today sent a message to Jean McBride, the mother of murdered teenager, Peter McBride.
He expressed his sorrow that the British government and ministry of defence establishment has "had such little regard for a mother's grief and displayed a stubborn and callous insensitivity to the feelings of the community of the New Lodge".
"I am shocked that Tony Blair cannot act to end this contemptible injustice. For the Prime Minister to assert that the Government can have no policy on the issue of whether convicted murderers should be permitted to pursue a career in Her Majesty's Armed Service is frankly deplorable. "
The Scots Guardsmen were convicted of murdering Mr Peter McBride, an 18-year-old father-of-two after he was shot in the back at a security checkpoint near his New Lodge home in nationalist north Belfast in September 1992.
At their trial Wright and Fisher claimed they believed Mr McBride had a coffee-jar bomb. But the judge found they were lying as they had already stopped and searched the victim.
In 1998 the soldiers were given early prison release and later allowed to resume their military careers following a ruling by a British army board.
Legal challenges mounted by the McBride family have so far failed to reverse the decision. In May, Mr Durkan wrote to the British Prime Minister asking how he could justify having two convicted murderers who lied under oath serving as soldiers.
Dismayed by Mr Blair's response, which pointed to exceptional circumstances which have remained private, the SDLP chief has launched a fierce attack.
"I am deeply disappointed that Tony Blair has defended the handling of this case," he said. "Tony Blair restates his commitment to human rights. But this commitment cannot be reconciled with the actions of the British government.
"Murder is murder. It doesn't matter who carried it out, it should be treated equally seriously yet it is obvious this has not happened in this case," he said.
PA