January/February 1999

NACDL Resolution Supports Irish Defense Lawyers
By


At the Atlanta meeting, the NACDL Board of Directors approved a resolution in support of defense lawyers in Northern Ireland.

In October, NACDL member Mary Boresz Pike of New York contacted NACDL Director Ted Simon of Philadelphia, to share with him the United Nations Special Rapporteur Report and the report of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights entitled Human Rights and Legal Defenses in Northern Ireland: The Intimidation of Defense Lawyers. Ted Simon is the Chair of NACDL’s International Law Committee.

Both reports detail widespread abuse of defense lawyers as well as restrictions placed on the lawyers’ access to those taken into custody in Northern Ireland. The Special Rapporteur Report highlights the 1989 murder of Patrick Finucane, a leading member of the Irish defense bar, who was gunned down. That report concluded that the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), the police force in Northern Ireland, has engaged in systematic abuse of defense lawyers and that outstanding questions surrounding the murder of Belfast solicitor Patrick Finucane demonstrate the continuing need for an independent judicial inquiry into the circumstances of his killing.

The NACDL resolution, passed November 14, fully supports all of the recommendations in the Special Rapporteur Report.

In his letter to Dr. Marjorie Mowlam, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, NACDL President Larry Pozner wrote, “It is imperative that a foundation be laid for a justice system in which all of the people of Northern Ireland can feel confidence. To this end, we would further urge that existing statutory and structural incentives which contribute to the commission of human rights abuses and the unfair administration of justice, including but not limited to those ably identified in the Special Rapporteur’s Report, be replaced with measures which insure due respect for the rule of law and for the right to due process and a fair trial before an independent judiciary.”


National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)
1660 L St., NW, 12th Floor, Washington, DC 20036
(202) 872-8600 • Fax (202) 872-8690 • assist@nacdl.org