THE High Court in Belfast has granted permission to the so-called Hooded Men to challenge the refusal of the British Government to hold an independent investigation into their allegations of torture during internment in the 1970s.
The judicial review will now be held over four days in November.
In August 1971 fourteen men, all from nationalist areas in the North, were taken by helicopter to a secret location — believed to be a British Army base at Ballykelly, Co. Derry – where they were held without trial.
The men were subjected to a number of torture methods including hooding, stress positions, white noise, sleep deprivation and deprivation of food and water, combined with physical assaults and death threats to the men.
The actions of the British security forces against the Hooded Men came under scrutiny of international law before. In 1978, the European Court of Human Rights held that the UK had carried out ‘inhuman and degrading treatment’.
However, the court fell short of defining this treatment as ‘torture’.
The human rights organisation Watch (UK) believes the UK Government continues to cover up senior Government ministers’ involvement in the sanctioning of torture.
Ahead of last week’s hearing Amnesty International said there was a “long overdue responsibility” to provide an independent investigation into the full facts and any cabinet involvement. Patrick Corrigan from Amnesty NI said: “It is utterly unacceptable that, in 43 years, the UK authorities have never conducted a proper investigation into the abuse and that no-one has ever been held accountable before the law.
The surviving Hooded Men — four have died in the intervening years, including Gerrard McKerr who passed away in March of this year at the age of 71 — are being represented at the High Court by Belfast firm KRW Law. International lawyer Amal Clooney is one of the team representing the men.
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