The UK government has done nothing for victims of Libya-UK, so it is no surprise that they are burying report into British victims

For context, American, French, British and German victims of Libyan sponsored terrorism began a legal case in 2005 in the American courts for redress from Libya. The said victims governments all backed their citizens claims, that is all but the British victims.

The result of this was that the Americans, Germans and French all secured compensation, unsurprisingly the British victims were left with nothing.

This is doubly infuriating when you consider that an American who was injured in the bombing of Harrods in 1983 received millions of dollars in compensation, whereas the family of a Police Inspector killed by the same explosion didn’t see a penny.

The British victims, along with the redoubtable Lord Empey, have been fighting for years with the British government who, when asked to support their citizens like other countries did, offer only sympathy, excuses and hand wringing.

The victims hopes were raised in 2017 when the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee published their report which was highly critical of successive British governments and recommended that the government provide material aid to the victims and enter into negotiations with the Libyans. The governments response? They rejected the report and its findings and instead offered more sympathy, hang wringing and excuses.

Hand wringing, sympathy and excuses were not, however, offered to eight former members of PIRA who, in 2016, were awarded £1.6 million in compensation by the British government, nor to the families of bloody Sunday victims whom the British government couldn’t compensate quickly enough.

Fast forward to 2019 when Boris Johnson announced that William Shawcross had been appointed to look into who would be eligible and how much money they could be entitled to.

The victims, still with the bitter taste of the NIAC report in their collective mouths, must surely have had their reservations about this, especially since the work Shawcross had been tasked with doing had already been done back in 2005 when the legal case against Libya was ongoing.

The recent news of Johnson elevating an unapologetic supporter of PIRA terrorism, Claire Fox, to the House of Lords must surely have raised red flags with the victims.

This, as well as Sinn Fein being allowed to hold up troubles pensions for innocent victims so that the PIRA victim makers could cash in, should tell the victims all they need to know about how seriously Boris Johnson takes their plight.

Imagine my abject lack of surprise then when I read that the British government have had the Shawcross report for some time and that they would have to consider whether to publish any elements of it.

Well they can’t very well publish a report that will be critical of them or recommend they do something they have no interest in doing now can they?

It is a sad state of affairs when the British government will give innocent victims a slap in the face with one hand, and pay out to perpetrators with the other.

Welcome to Northern Ireland, where crime does pay.

Andrew Magowan, Belfast BT4

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