Omagh bomb families call for special advocate for closed hearings at inquiry
Omagh Bombing Inquiry chairman Lord Turnbull is hearing arguments around applications during dedicated hearings this week.
Counsel to the inquiry Paul Greaney KC said the inquiry, which is probing whether the 1998 dissident republican bomb attack could have been prevented, will hear some sensitive security evidence in closed hearings.
The atrocity in the Co Tyrone town on August 15 1998 killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.
Speaking during hearings in Belfast on Monday, Mr Greaney said the inquiry's legal team recognises that survivors and the bereaved have spent 25 seeking the truth, and may be 'suspicious or even cynical of the UK state's willingness to engage in a way that is straightforward and wholehearted with this inquiry'.
'We acknowledge too, that the idea of evidence being heard in circumstances in which the families and survivors will be excluded is one that they will find difficult to accept, to say the least, and accordingly, we regard it as entirely understandable that some, although not all, have suggested special advocates should be appointed to represent their interests in any closed hearings, and have made applications for that to occur,' he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
11 minutes ago
- The Independent
Green Party responds after Jeremy Corbyn's new party receives more sign ups
Ellie Chowns defended the Green Party after LBC 's Henry Riley pointed out that Jeremy Corbyn 's newly formed party has had more sign ups that them Chowns appeared to laugh saying, "Nobody's had to pay them any money to sign-up." Jeremy Corbyn and former Labour leader Zarah Sultana are reportedly 'getting 500 people a minute' wanting to join their new political party. Despite Chowns and other Green Party leadership candidates warning against the Greens becoming 'a Jeremy Corbyn support act' Zack Polanski has said he's 'open' to working with new Corbyn and Sultana party' opening a divide in the party.
Telegraph
12 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Taliban fighters ‘brought to Britain' in ‘kill list' airlift
Former Taliban fighters are living in the UK after being airlifted from Afghanistan on British mercy flights, The Telegraph has been told. The jihadis were allegedly among thousands of people brought here for their own safety because they were on a leaked list of names of Afghans who had applied to come to the UK. Sex offenders, corrupt officials and people imprisoned under the US-led coalition are also among those who have been accepted for resettlement in the UK in an apparent failure of vetting procedures. The Telegraph has shared details with British authorities. Around 6,900 Afghans are being flown to the UK as part of Operation Rubific, the codename for the Government's response to the 2022 data breach. A British official wrongly shared the personal details of 25,000 Afghans who had applied to a relocation scheme for those who had fought with British forces during the war in Afghanistan, or worked as translators or in other support roles. Until this month, a High Court super-injunction had prevented the media from reporting anything about the leak or the airlift. As The Telegraph reported earlier this month, several Cabinet ministers raised serious concerns about Operation Rubific because they were worried about national security, and the latest disclosures appear to justify their stance. According to multiple senior sources in Afghanistan, the evacuation process was infiltrated by individuals with Taliban connections who exploited the system and got fighters to the UK, including by naming Taliban fighters as family members and dependents who needed to join them here. 'We had civilians in our office who had clear ties with the Taliban,' one Afghan official said. 'They were taken to Britain and then introduced fighters as family members and brought them to Britain…some people on the evacuation list named people with clear ties to the Taliban and introduced Taliban people as cousins, and they are in Britain.' Sources describe a pattern where corrupt Afghan officials, rather than genuine British allies, were facilitating the evacuation of Taliban-connected individuals. 'We had a lot of corrupt officials,' another Afghan official said. 'Those corrupt officials are now taking Taliban fighters to Britain rather than those who really worked for the UK. It's depressing.' The official claimed that UK personnel often seemed to rely on these corrupt individuals for consultation and recommendations, leading to the inclusion of Taliban-connected people on evacuation lists. 'When my friends see them there, they call and say, 'Wow, that guy is here', but that top commander is hiding in Kabul,' one Afghan official said. The Ministry of Defence has previously confirmed that some Afghans have brought more than 20 people with them as family members. The Telegraph has been given the names of four alleged Taliban sympathisers who are among those said to have come to the UK under resettlement schemes. One of them, who came to Britain before the fall of Kabul in 2021, is said to have arranged for several Taliban-linked family members to follow him to the UK. The Ministry of Defence confirmed the man was living in Britain. It did not confirm or deny that he had been followed by family members with alleged links to the Taliban. A second man, a logistics worker who spent four years in prison for stealing and selling Coalition weapons to the Taliban before being released in the Taliban takeover of Kabul, is currently living in Britain, the Ministry of Defence confirmed. 'They are not good for Britain' Another case involved an individual who allegedly sexually abused female workers. Defence sources said he has not moved to Britain yet and that his case is being worked through. The fourth name passed to the Telegraph was that of a British passport holder who allegedly facilitated the evacuation of Taliban-connected individuals by vouching for them under the resettlement scheme. A Ministry of Defence spokesman did not directly comment on the allegation that he had brought Taliban sympathisers to the UK, and said only that the vetting process includes biographic and document checks and not just personal recommendations. The Telegraph has previously reported that Robert Clark, a former soldier and reservist who worked on the relocation scheme, said he had been informed by Ministry of Defence personnel that full vetting of applicants secretly brought to the UK had not been completed. Mr Clark warned there would be significant national security implications for intelligence services and police if proper background checks had not been conducted to determine whether individuals had been radicalised or maintained terrorist connections. 'They are not good for Britain,' said one former senior Afghan official who spoke with The Telegraph. 'They were fighting against British forces and killed lots of Brits, but now are being fed by Brits in London. They have British blood on their hands.'
BBC News
12 minutes ago
- BBC News
Security tightens as Donald Trump tees off at Turnberry
A major security operation is ramping up as Donald Trump begins a four-day private visit in US president arrived at Prestwick Airport on Friday evening and stayed at his luxury golf resort, Trump Turnberry in South a white "USA" cap and accompanied by his second son Eric, he teed off for a round of golf at about 10:15 on his first morning at the is due to meet UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Scotland's First Minister John Swinney over the next few days, as well as opening a second 18-hole course at his estate in Aberdeenshire. The president has said "it's great to be in Scotland" and has praised the leaders of both governments.A number of protests are expected to be held to coincide with the visit, including demonstrations in Edinburgh and Aberdeen have already been raised about the scale of the visit and the security implications, with police representatives raising concerns about the costs involved and the impact on staffing. Journalists, photographers and plane watchers were among the crowds who gathered to see Air Force One touch down at Prestwick just before 20:30 on was greeted by Scottish Secretary Ian Murray and Warren Stephens, US Ambassador to the president spoke with journalists before a motorcade made up of more than two dozen vehicles escorted him to Turnberry.A number of roads have been closed in the area while police and military personnel have been carrying out sweeps around the resort. A security checkpoint has been put in place outside the hotel and a large fence has been erected around the security remains tight around Turnberry, some golfers were able to use the Ailsa course from about 07:30 - albeit in windy and helicopters have also been circling overhead. Trump is expected to meet Starmer and Swinney on Monday while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will meet the president on Sunday to discuss transatlantic trade US president will travel back to Washington on Tuesday and is due to return to the UK for an official state visit in his remarks to the press at Prestwick, Trump said European countries need to "get your act together" on migration, and "stop the windmills", referring to wind farms. In 2019, his company Trump International lost a long-running court battle to stop a major wind power development being built in the North Sea off argued that the project, which included 11 wind turbines, would spoil the view from his golf course at has said his meeting with Trump would present an opportunity to "essentially speak out for Scotland" on issues such as trade and the increase of business from the United States in first minister said he would also raise "significant international issues" including "the awfulness of the situation in Gaza".He urged those set to protest against the president's visit to do so "peacefully and to do so within the law". Visits to Scotland by sitting US presidents are Elizabeth hosted Dwight D Eisenhower at Balmoral in Aberdeenshire in W Bush travelled to Gleneagles in Perthshire for a G8 summit in 2005 and Joe Biden attended a climate conference in Glasgow in only other serving president to visit this century is Trump himself in 2018 when he was met by protesters including one flying a paraglider low over Turnberry, breaching the air exclusion zone around the returned in 2023, two-and-a-half years after he was defeated by will have an official state visit to the UK in September when he and First Lady Melania Trump will be hosted by King Charles at Windsor Castle in is the second state visit he has been afforded - second-term US presidents are traditionally not offered state visits and have instead been invited for tea or lunch with the monarch, usually at Windsor Castle.
