MOSCOW, November 24 (Sputnik) — The Irish government must refile the suit to the European Court of Human Rights against the United Kingdom for allegedly torturing 14 men imprisoned in Northern Ireland in 1971, Amnesty International said in a statement on Monday.
"The Irish state argued then that the UK's actions amounted to torture — we call on it to do so again now. That means that a request to the European Court to look at this new information must be lodged within the next two weeks. The clock is ticking," Colm O'Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland, said in the statement published on the watchdog's website.
Ireland filed a suit with the European Court of Human Rights against Britain in 1971 for torturing the 14 so-called hooded men imprisoned in Northern Ireland. Hooding, stress position, white nose, sleep deprivation and deprivation of food and water were the five tactics used against the men. The court, however, found in 1978 that the United Kingdom used inhuman and degrading tactics rather than torture when interrogating them.
Amnesty's appeal follows recent archival material, discovered by Ireland's RTE TV channel, which disclosed crucial evidence that Britain did not make public the evidence it possessed during the then hearing. According to Amnesty, had the evidence been provided, the judgment would have been quite different.
"The UK succeeded in persuading the European Court to absolve it of the 'special stigma' of a finding of torture by not disclosing relevant evidence and by taking a position that was directly contradicted by its own, internal advice," Amnesty said.
The watchdog also stressed it addressed a letter last month to Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny urging him to re-open the case.
Ireland will be able to refile the suit until December 4 before six months has passed since the new evidence was revealed. RTE aired the program on June 4.
