London must respond, says widow

The British government must answer the serious questions raised by the Lawyers' Committee, Mrs Geraldine Finucane said yesterday…

The British government must answer the serious questions raised by the Lawyers' Committee, Mrs Geraldine Finucane said yesterday.

She said that three years ago, on the 10th anniversary of her husband's murder, another report, by British-Irish Rights Watch, was given to Mr Tony Blair. It was the most comprehensive report on the killing available at the time.

She said: "On that evidence at that time numerous bodies of international reputation such as the UN, the Lawyers' Committee, Amnesty International, and the US Congress felt that on the information there was a question to be answered. We presented that to Tony Blair . . . we are still waiting for an answer." International and domestic human rights organisations have also repeated their call for a public judicial inquiry.

The call was made in a joint statement by 12 non-governmental organisations including Amnesty International, British-Irish Rights Watch, the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ), Human Rights Watch, International Commission of Jurists, International Federation for Human Rights, Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, Liberty, Pat Finucane Centre, Relatives for Justice and the Scottish Human Rights Centre.

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The groups said that despite the ongoing police investigation no successful prosecutions had ensued, making a public judicial inquiry the only mechanism for an effective investigation into the allegations of collusion between Mr Finucane's killers and British security forces.

Their call was echoed by the Law Society of England and Wales, the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales, the Law Society of Northern Ireland and the Human Rights Committee of the Bar Council of Northern Ireland.

Nationalist politicians urged a judicial inquiry. While supporting in principle a proposal by the British and Irish governments to appoint an international judge to investigate the case, there were fears that this could be used as a stalling tactics, the SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan, said.

Congratulating the Lawyers' Committee on their report, Sinn Féin chief whip Mr Alex Maskey said his party would continue to support the Finucane family in their quest for justice.