1990 the British Court of Appeal decided that the appeal of the six men against conviction will be heard in February of this year.
JOHN MEEHAN
HE turnaround in public percep-
T tions of the Birmingham frame-up is due largely to a
"Miscarriages of Justice" campaign organized in Ireland over the last few years.
"Miscarriages of Justice" began as a coordinating group on several cases - the Birmingham 6, The Guildford 4, and the Maguire Family (see /V 173 for details of these cases). In time, other cases have been taken up — most notably the Winchester 3 (framed in 1987, released having won their appeal in 1990) and Danny
MacNamee, whose appeal hearing started on December 17, 1990.
A very important link in this campaign has been the Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas (ICPO), a sub-committee of the Irish Catholic Hierarchy's Commission on emigration. Gradually "Miscarriages of Justice" gathered together different organizations and individuals, and organized several effective public protests.
Nationalists isolated
This has happened at a time when the revolutionary nationalist organization,
Sinn Fein, has found itself increasingly marginalized, and other campaigns on related issues —above all extradition -have made very little headway.
The first sign of significant public discontent in the 26 Counties came in early 1989 when the British Court of Appeal upheld the men's convictions. Continuous pressure had forced the British Home Secretary to refer the case back to the courts. In fact, the state could quash the convictions any time it liked, but is reluctant to take this course because it would imply lack of confidence in its own judiciary. Chief Justice Lord Lane and his cronies failed to take a heavy hint, in spite of damning new evidence to add to the mountain already in place.
For example, 2 former police officers testified at the Appeal that the men were savagely beaten by members of the West Midlands Serious Crimes Squad. This independently confirmed what the men had been saying for years. Defence witness threatened
One of them, Joyce Lynas, at first said she had seen nothing. Then over a weekend she contacted defence solicitors, indicating she wished to take the stand for a second time. Joyce Lynas explained that she had received threatening phone calls to her home — her private number sion of events.
Lane and the other two judges dismissed all this as "lying". Naturally there was no instruction to the Director of Public Proescutions (DPP) to investigate Lynas' allegations of attempted intimidation of witnesses — after all the people responsible would almost certainly prove to be employees of the British state.
Other evidence shocked most observers of the Appeal — for example the dubious nature of the forensic evidence, and the unearthing of a document (called the "Reade schedule" after its author, George Reade, police coordinator of the "interrogations") which showed how police lies were coordinated at the original trials.
State protects its agents
Shortly after Lane delivered his judgement - declaring that as the Appeal went on he had become "more convinced" of the men's guilt — British Attorney General Patrick Mayhew announced there would be no prosecutions of police officers involved in "Shoot to kill" operations by John Stalker. Mayhew actually admitted there had been a conspiracy to "pervert the course of justice" but said there would be no prosecutions
The intended effect was to make people feel that protest was hopeless. Instead it widespread disgust. A huge demonstration took place in Dublin, calling for the release of the Birmingham 6 and an end to extradition.
A few months afterwards, the British government also referred the Guildford 4 case to the Court of Appeal. Several Irish trade unions passed resolutions on all the miscarriages of justice. began for a major demonstration in Dub-
In October campaigners got a major boost with the freeing of the Guildford 4, by direction of the DPP. The Crown knew it could not trust Lord Lane and his pals after the scandal of the Birmingham 6
The British state obviously hoped that this decision would restore some credibil-. ity to their system of "justice". They were sadly mistaken. Great credit is due here to the way that Paul Hill and Gerry Conlon of the Guildford 4 relentlessly paigned on their own case and that of the Birmingham 6. Dublin politicians said their faith was "restored" in British Jusadby Hill and ConContinually contradict 19 ed by Hill and Conlon.
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International Viewpoint #198 • January 21, 1991
IRELAND / BELGIUM
The British again hoped they could sit tight. But a force had been unleashed that they could not control. The campaign in the 26 Counties spread to areas where it never had before.
A good example is the involvement of a group of artists, musicians and actors called "Parade".
The artists organized a show in the streets of Dublin to dramatize the plight of the Birmingham 6. The parade was led off by a ghoulish "judge" sitting on top of a throne of decomposed rubbish, broken bicycle parts, umbrella sticks and all sorts
A massive model of a rat's head stuck out from under this 8 foot high platform. It was pushed along by a contingent of actors dressed as British barristers. Other features of this parade were actors taking the part of well-known Irish radical figures from the past - for example Oscar Wilde, Constance Markievicz, Jim Larkin - even the current Irish football team manager Jack Charlton, who is English, was in his turn "arrested" for being Irish.
All these characters would appear in the middle of the onlooking crowd, only to be arrested by a squad of "police" who dragged them off to a huge circus cage. There they joined actors playing the parts of the Birmingham 6 with grim realism.
the cage was innocent until proved Irish".
The build-up to this parade sparked off a very significant debate in the Dublin Council of Trade Unions. Throughout 1990 the leadership of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) built up a campaign to oppose the IRA's bombing campaign against the Dublin-Belfast link. Even Sinn Fein members kept their heads down whenever this issue was
Union bureaucrats organize diversion
The bad faith behind the ICTU leadership campaign became apparent when they organized a "peace train" action over the railway line bombings to coincide exactly
"Parade of Innocence" orgathe Miscarriages of Justice
When the Dublin Council of Trade Unions debated the issue it decided to support the Miscarriages of Justice parade. The supporters of the "peace train" denounced the parade as pro-IRA!
On the day the ICTU's protest was very poorly attended, while over 10,000 people marched through Dublin
The Miscarriages of Justice group also took up the case of the Winchester 3 -Martina Shanahan, Finbar Cullen, John McCann. In the climate created by the release of the Guildford 4, there was 20 much more pressure on the British government. The Winchester 3 won their appeal; their campaign forced several Irish politicians to come out in support of their case.
In August 1990 the then British Home Secretary David Waddington referred the Birmingham 6 case to the Court of Appeal for a second time. A dirty game of leaks started up. Hints were dropped the Birmingham 6 would be