Action Alert: Support the Finucane Inquiry!

Next month marks the 20th anniversary of the murder of Belfast human rights lawyer Pat Finucane. As most of you know, the Finucane family has organized a conference to celebrate Pat’s life and legacy that will take place at Trinity College Dublin February 13-15.

In order to highlight the steadfast refusal of the British
government to allow a full public, independent, international inquiry to take place, Irish America has been asked to lobby our Senators and Representatives to write to British Ambassador Nigel Sheinwald to ask when the British government plans to comply with the agreement made at Weston Park in 2003 and allow an inquiry–with the blessings of the Finucane family and the international community–to proceed unfettered. (**Note: British Irish Rights Watch has asked that we lobby Congresspeople to write to the British Ambassador–individual letters from American citizens to the Ambassador will not carry the political weight necessary to push the issue in this situation.)

In their letters to Ambassador Sheinwald, members of Congress should highlight the following issues:

TheBritish government has an obligation to stand up the commitment made under the Weston Park agreement in 2003, in which it agreed to comply with whatever recommendations Judge Peter Cory came up with.
In March of 2007, Congress passed a joint resolution supporting a full public, international, independent inquiry into the Finucane murder.
In October of 2008, in the midst of his Presidential campaign, now-President Barack Obama made a public statement supporting a full, independent inquiry as recommended by Judge Cory.
All correspondence between members of Congress and the Ambassador should be copied to President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Geraldine Finucane (c/o British Irish Rights Watch, 13b Hillgate Place, London, England SW12 9ES) .

Resources:

H.CON.RES.20:Full text of Congressional Joint Resolution in Support of Finucane Inquiry

Sample Intro Letter to Congress *Any written correspondence must be followed-up with phone calls and meetings!

More resources available here.