Blair at Iraq Inquiry - Protest!

Subhas Chandra Bose | 25.01.2010 14:58 | Anti-militarism | Iraq | Terror War

Tony Blair will appear at the Iraq inquiry on Friday 29 January. on the same day anti-war British soldier lance corporal Joe Glenton will begin a preliminary hearing for a court martial. Glenton faces a decade in prison, Blair faces no prison sentence.

THE PEOPLE'S VOICE ON BLAIR'S JUDGEMENT DAY

Writers, musicians, relatives of the dead, Iraqi refugees, poets, human rights lawyers, comedians, well known actors, MPs and ordinary citizens are joining a day of protest, performance and politics outside the Iraq Inquiry on Friday 29 January, as Tony Blair faces his judgement day.

People who oppose Britain's foreign wars are coming from all corners of the country. The verdict on Blair will affect present and future wars. It needs to be made clear to the world that people here regard him as a man guilty of taking Britain into an illegal war.

The approximate timetable for Tony Blair's Judgement Day at the QE2 Conference Centre, is as follows:

8.00: PROTEST STARTS AS BLAIR ARRIVES

A delegation including Iraqi citizens and grieving military families take the People's Dossier of questions for Tony Blair to Sir John Chilcot.

9.00-10.00: NAMING OF THE DEAD CEREMONY

When Blair's testimony begins, names of Iraqis killed in the war will be read by novelist A.L Kennedy, Musician Brian Eno, actor and director Sam West, actor and director Simon McBurney, playwright David Edgar, Lancet editor Richard Horton, former UK ambassador Craig Murray, Iraqi author Haifa Zangana, comedian and author Alexei Sayle, actor Miriam Margoyles, and more.

10.00-11.00: SPEECHES, READINGS AND PERFORMANCES Including by many of those participating in the Naming the Dead ceremony.

12.00-13.00: PERFORMANCE FROM LOWKEY, KING BLUES AND OTHER MUSICIANS.

13.00-14.00: MILITARY FAMILIES NAMING OF THE DEAD Members of military families who lost loved ones in the Iraq war will read the names of all 179 British soldiers who died.

16.00: PROTEST AS TONY BLAIR LEAVES THE INQUIRY

Tony Blair's Judgement Day Friday 29 January from 8.00am Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre Broad Sanctuary, London, SW1P 3EE Nearest tube: Westminster

Subhas Chandra Bose
Homepage: http://www.stopwar.org.uk

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Dr Kelly's murder

25.01.2010 15:16

Dr Kelly murdered

Evidence relating to the death of Government weapons inspector David Kelly is to be kept secret for 70 years, it has been reported.

A highly unusual ruling by Lord Hutton, who chaired the inquiry into Dr Kelly's death, means medical records including the post-mortem report will remain classified until after all those with a direct interest in the case are dead, the Mail on Sunday reported.

And a 30-year secrecy order has been placed on written records provided to Lord Hutton's inquiry which were not produced in evidence.

The Ministry of Justice said decisions on the evidence were a matter for Lord Hutton. But Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, who has conducted his own investigations into Dr Kelly's death, described the order as "astonishing".

Dr Kelly's body was found in woods close to his Oxfordshire home in 2003, shortly after it was revealed that he was the source of a BBC report casting doubt on the Government's claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction capable of being fired within 45 minutes.

An inquest was suspended by then Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer, who ruled that Lord Hutton's inquiry could take its place. But in the event, the inquiry focused more on the question of how the BBC report came to be broadcast than on the medical explanation for Dr Kelly's death.

Lord Hutton's report in 2004 concluded that Dr Kelly killed himself by cutting an artery in his wrist. But the finding has been challenged by doctors who claim that the weapons inspector's stated injuries were not serious enough.

One of the doctors seeking a full inquest, former assistant coroner Michael Powers, told the Mail on Sunday he had seen a letter from the legal team of Oxfordshire County Council explaining the unusual restrictions placed by Lord Hutton on material relating to his inquiry.

The letter states: "Lord Hutton made a request for the records provided to the inquiry, not produced in evidence, to be closed for 30 years, and that medical (including post-mortem) reports and photographs be closed for 70 years."

Dr Powers asked: "Supposedly all evidence relevant to the cause of death has been heard in public at the time of Lord Hutton's inquiry. If these secret reports support the suicide finding, what could they contain that could be so sensitive?"
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