7/7 Survivors Call for Independent Public Inquiry
Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed | 02.05.2007 10:18 | Terror War | London
As I write I'm watching the live, lunchtime report on Sky News covering the delivery of a letter on behalf of 7/7 survivors drafted by Oury Clark Solicitors, formally requesting that the government facilitates an independent public inquiry into the 7th July 2005 terrorist attacks on the London Underground.
The Guardian has been particularly fast -- the whole text of the letter is available to read online here: 
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2069618,00.html
This is the beginning of the campaign. Just for the record, the Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC http://www.cacc.org.uk/ ) needs to take significant credit for this development. Last year, myself and several other CAMPACC activists met regularly with human rights lawyer James Oury and briefed him on the need to develop an effective legal case, and general campaign, for an independent public inquiry into 7/7. Eventually we invited survivor Rachel North who then brought in the other survivors who want an inquiry. After that, we took a backseat so that the survivors could secure the unmitigated expert legal representation that they've been denied for so long.
So it's rather satisfying to see this pay-off. But of course this is only the start of what must be a prolonged and concerted campaign. The government will of course obfuscate, dodge and repeat parrot-fashion the same tired, cliched excuses ("not enough resources"; "diverting our attention away from guaranteeing day-to-day public safety"; blah blah). But the excuses are looking more and more lame, everyday, and they will continue to do as more information on how much the government really knew about 7/7 emerges in the coming weeks and months.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2069618,00.html This is the beginning of the campaign. Just for the record, the Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC
http://www.cacc.org.uk/ ) needs to take significant credit for this development. Last year, myself and several other CAMPACC activists met regularly with human rights lawyer James Oury and briefed him on the need to develop an effective legal case, and general campaign, for an independent public inquiry into 7/7. Eventually we invited survivor Rachel North who then brought in the other survivors who want an inquiry. After that, we took a backseat so that the survivors could secure the unmitigated expert legal representation that they've been denied for so long. So it's rather satisfying to see this pay-off. But of course this is only the start of what must be a prolonged and concerted campaign. The government will of course obfuscate, dodge and repeat parrot-fashion the same tired, cliched excuses ("not enough resources"; "diverting our attention away from guaranteeing day-to-day public safety"; blah blah). But the excuses are looking more and more lame, everyday, and they will continue to do as more information on how much the government really knew about 7/7 emerges in the coming weeks and months.
Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed
Homepage:
http://nafeez.blogspot.com/2007/05/77-survivors-call-for-independent.html
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