cúisle mo chroí

This is heartbreaking:
Police ‘forced’ man to identify mutilated body of murdered nephew, court told
Police effectively forced the uncle of a teenage murder victim to identify the badly mutilated body against his will, the High Court has heard.
Alan Steele also claimed officers did not care because they wrongly believed his dead nephew, David McIlwaine, was a [...]

The (fantastic) organization Reprieve today announced the release of a UN report (click that link to download the full report) into secret detention that exposes UK collusion in secret detention and torture. The investigation found, among other things, that the UK knew of the US’ rendition practices in 2002 but continued to hand them [...]

From Relatives for Justice:
Speaking in response to the DUP’s motion concerning the re-definition of a victim of the conflict Relatives for Justice Chairperson Clara Reilly issued the following statement;
‘Jeffrey Donaldson, and the DUP, are pandering to a very small constituency of people bereaved that are not representative of the broader community of those affected by [...]

A must-read article from the Guardian about the potential findings of the Nelson Inquiry by journalist Beatrix Campbell:
The public inquiry into the assassination a decade ago of the human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson was about to open its doors in a blank Belfast office block to witnesses last year when a new and eccentric story [...]

January 28th is the date set for the Eames/Bradley Consultative Group on the Past to release their highly anticipated recommendations on how best the north of Ireland might deal with the legacy of the conflict.  In today’s Belfast Telegraph, Brian Rowan shares the news that the CGP will be announcing a “Legacy Commission”–titled as such [...]

First, a confession: I yoinked this image from my friend’s Facebook page.  This is the famed wall at Free Derry Corner in Derry, Ireland, and is pretty regularly painted to show solidarity with oppressed people the world over.  I think the image speaks for itself, don’t you?

If you read any of the commentary on Obama’s administration picks, read “This is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama’s White House,” by journalist Jeremy Scahill.  Scahill writes of the momentus opportunity that Obama has to create real change–how he was elected on a popular mandate to challenge the militaristic [...]

The following is a video taken by Relatives for Justice at yesterday’s British Army/Royal Irish Regiment March of Shame and the sectarian abuse and attack by unionists/loyalists on victims of British state violence during their peaceful counterdemonstration.  Towards the end of the video are short comments from Mark Thompson, Bairbre de Brún and Gerry Adams.  [...]

Here’s an article from last week’s Irish Voice (15 October) by Cahir O’Doherty.  The quotes from me are a combination of a phone interview and a press release.  You can really tell which ones are more put together–but I really think there were some phrases that were struck from some of the comments that I [...]

Earlier this week, I sent a letter to Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis to express my dismay upon hearing that his office sought advice from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) regarding crowd control.  This August 28 article in the Boston Globe states that the PSNI, well-versed in the art of crowd control from [...]