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Home  Holyrood magazine
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Government snubs miscarriage of justice campaigners |
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Monday, 10 March 2008 |
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill is refusing to meet a member of the Birmingham Six who is campaigning for improved rights for those jailed for crimes they did not commit.
Paddy Hill, who spent 17 years in various British jails after being
coerced by the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad into confessing to the
1974 Birmingham bombings, works with Mojo Scotland, a group dedicated
to assisting those released from jail after being cleared of crimes
they were not responsible for.
Hill, along with fellow Mojo Scotland campaigner John McManus, wants to
meet MacAskill to argue the case for a dedicated aftercare programme
and retreat for innocent people who have been wrongly jailed. Despite
repeatedly writing to MacAskill to request a meeting, Mojo Scotland has
been unable to obtain any time with the Justice Secretary.
A spokesman for MacAskill says Mojo Scotland does have regular contact
with Scottish Government officials, but has yet to formally request a
meeting with the minister:
“Like anyone else seeking a meeting with the Justice Secretary, Mojo
need to write to the Scottish Government explaining why. They have
simply not been in touch about such a meeting – despite contact with
Scottish Government officials on a regular basis. If and when they do
make such a request, it will of course be considered.”
This claim is contradicted by a letter seen by Holyrood dating from
June 2007, where Mojo Scotland formally requested a meeting with both
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill and Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon.
The letter says: “We were disappointed to receive your letter, 27th June 2007, stating
that you were unable to accept our request for a meeting. It is for
this reason that we are now writing to you formally, and to your
colleague in charge of health Nicola Sturgeon, who also happens to be
my constituency MSP, to ask for a meeting with both of you to discuss
the fundamental wrong in relation to the dereliction of duty and the
lack of care afforded to men and woman who have been declared a
miscarriage of justice at the appeal court, and to talk about the
urgent need for an aftercare programme, particularly in the shape of a
retreat, as a respite whilst they come to terms with the new world they
find themselves in.”
McManus said: “I don't want to be caught up in political mudslinging, but I do feel
Mr MacAskill should have met us, and in fact what we are calling for in
the shape of a retreat for victims of a miscarriage of justice, would
be the first of its kind in the world, and would put Scotland on the
map in how we deal with our human rights when the state gets it wrong.”
Mojo Scotland is holding a major conference in Glasgow in April, on
miscarriages of justice and how best to ameliorate the effects they can
have – such as severe post traumatic stress disorder – on those who
have suffered them. Speakers at the conference will include former
Lebanon hostage Terry Waite, Guildford Four miscarriage of justice
victim Gerry Conlon and Willie Rennie MP.
No one has commented on this article.
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