JUSTICE ADJOURNED
On 27 October 2000, the fourth day of the hearing, Samar and Jawad's appeal was adjourned, perhaps for several months so that:
Vindication for Shayler and Samar and Jawad
The selective fragments of evidence provided to the defence state that during the months prior to the 1994 bombings the security services (both MI5 & MI6) and the Special Branch knew that a terrorist organisation unconnected to either Samar or Jawad was seeking information about the Israeli Embassy (including its defenses) for a possible bombing attack. The couple of hand-written pages also state that it was concluded after the bombings that this organisation had not carried out the attack. Other than this, no more details have been provided to the defence. So who did it then and how many candidates are there? As a reminder, police and prosecution insisted during the trial that "an intelligence vacuum" surrounded the bombings.
The failure to disclose this evidence at trial was described by Michael Mansfield QC, leading counsel for Samar and Jawad, as follows: "It is an astonishing and incredible failure in the duty of disclosure for those who are responsible...a catalogue of disasters, errors and failures by at least eight different individuals, at seven different stages, beginning with the domestic security services and going all the way up to the Home Office... Had it not been for David Shayler, the CPS would still be saying to us that there is nothing further to be revealed"
Courts fail to uphold the human rights legislation
It seems that the right to a fair and open hearing have been breached at both the trial and appeal stages. Why was all this evidence withheld even from the trial judge? The Court of Appeal's decision to withhold all but this brief selection of evidence came about after they held a secret PII hearing with the prosecution. We are concerned that, in taking that course of action, and then withholding the bulk of the evidence, the Court of Appeal chose to flagrantly disregard the provisions and clear case law (including the 'M-25' case) of the European Convention on Human Rights which, as of this month, the Human Rights Act has brought directly into English law. Such decisions do not bode well for the future of justice.
Mountains of evidence STILL being withheld
By way of example, Shayler has stated that a senior MI5 manager wrote a report detailing his conclusion that Mossad had been involved in the bombings. That information has still not been disclosed to the court by the security services. The Israeli ambassador passed on warnings to the British security services - there is no indication that that evidence has been disclosed to the court either. In addition, a source contacted the defence solicitor Ms Gareth Peirce this week and told her that, in 1994, before the bombings, he reported to the police his suspicions about a man in possession of suspicious documents relating to the Israeli Embassy. No details of that evidence or any subsequent police investigation have ever been revealed to the defence.
It is astonishing that the word of the police, prosecution and security services who insist that they have now revealed everything they have that is related to the case, is still being accepted. We now know they have claimed to do so for five long years, and have been wrong. The extent of the cover-up and of the bungling is only starting to reveal itself. Despite all these blatant examples of continuing injustice - and the admitted existence of evidence that could clear their names - we are truly appalled that Samar & Jawad are forced to remain in prison.
freedom & justice for samar & jawad