It is a political and judicial travesty that John Downey has been extradited by the Dublin judiciary to stand trial in the North for military actions he is alleged to have been involved in back in 1972 and from which resulted the deaths of two British state security personnel.
His extradition comes in a week when the excellent BBC Spotlight series suggested that as many as fifty million documents are still in possession of the security services, and withheld from the public, which are likely to contain information vital to a fuller understanding of the role of the British state in commissioning what it labelled terrorism. Hands on British involvement in the direction of terrorism is matched only by a cover up of immense proportions.
Why Dublin continues to afford any legitimacy to how London conducted its war in the North, rather than pursue it through the international courts, while not surprising, is something it has not yet offered an honest explanation for. It prefers, instead, to hide behind legalese, citing the letter of the law while ignoring the spirit. Rather than offering up Downey to a Diplock court, it should be seeking to place Britain in the Hague.
Downey's extradition is also a result of the party of which he is a member having bombastically undertaken to put manners on the PSNI so that it could bamboozle its capitulation over the line and secure the party's backing for British policing. It said nothing about extradition being on the new policing tin. Truth is, its careerist leaders had no intention of doing anything remotely like putting manners on anyone other than those foolish enough within the party to believe them. Now, and not for the first time, the PSNI has repaid in truly bad manners, letting Sinn Fein know who is daddy on the block. To the victor the spoils.
It is so easy to envisage the swarms of Agents of Influence drawn like flies to the odour of the leadership, urging that the party not protest too much, it might upset the peace process. Tell the grassroots it is all part of a grand design, John Downey is really going up to Maghaberry as a covert plot to put manners on the prison service.
It is so easy to envisage the swarms of Agents of Influence drawn like flies to the odour of the leadership, urging that the party not protest too much, it might upset the peace process. Tell the grassroots it is all part of a grand design, John Downey is really going up to Maghaberry as a covert plot to put manners on the prison service.
I'd say it was both. In his observation at the time Downey failed to acknowledge the vindictive role of the British state and its prosecutors in Ireland. Yes, the DUP was demanding his arrest but the Public Prosecution Service in the North, wholly sensitive to the hurt hubris of its political masters caused by Downey having earlier walked free from a London court due to an abuse of process, was determined to exact revenge.
This morning in an Omagh court Downey was refused bail. Sheer vindictiveness on the part of the PSNI. Everybody without exception has been granted bail in legacy cases. The bias of the PSNI can be gleaned from its policy of never opposing bail for former members of the security forces who have been charged with conflict related activity. Soldier F, who indisputably slaughtered people on Bloody Sunday, was not even required to appear in court. No objections by the PSNI to bail for this mass killer.
Downey handed himself over to the Gardaí, Had he have been a flight risk, he would have flown the coop rather than risk being grounded in the North. Also when on bail for the Hyde Park bombings, he honoured his bail conditions. The spineless toady hearing the case, Michael Ranaghan, deferred to the PSNI falsehoods. Whatever changes have taken place in the North, and there have been a few, one change has eluded every attempt to introduce it: the establishment will hold firm against the disestablished.
Downey handed himself over to the Gardaí, Had he have been a flight risk, he would have flown the coop rather than risk being grounded in the North. Also when on bail for the Hyde Park bombings, he honoured his bail conditions. The spineless toady hearing the case, Michael Ranaghan, deferred to the PSNI falsehoods. Whatever changes have taken place in the North, and there have been a few, one change has eluded every attempt to introduce it: the establishment will hold firm against the disestablished.
Mr Downey arrived for his hearing on Saturday morning at Omagh Magistrates’ Court, where a large crowd had gathered outside, among it Sinn Féin MPs, MLAs and councillors.
Why Sinn Fein turned up for is anybody's guess. Cheering Downey as a party member who made some invaluable, if invisible, contribution to the peace process, or applauding the PSNI for having taken Sinn Fein's recommendation that where there is evidence the British should prosecute? They even went through the charade of jostling in court with the cops and pulling faux angry faces outside it.
The dance of deceit continues.
