Se

 

 

Page 8,

the other press

March 7; 1977

 

 

 

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by Michael Chinoy for
Pacific News Service

(BELFAST)--High British offi-
’ cials *‘knew and approved’’ the
use of torture methods on 11
internees in Northern Ireland, a
former Northern Ireland official
has charged.

The charges come from John
Taylor, who as Ulster’s former
junior minister for home affairs
cooperated with the British in
their efforts against the Irish
Republican Army (IRA). Taylor
says both Edward Heath, then
British prime minister, and Lord
Carrington, then defense minis-
ter, condoned thé interrogation
techniques-when they were first
used in 1971. :

Taylor’s charges came after
the British government decided
earlier this month not to contest
a report issued by the European
Commission of Human Rights.
The report upheld charges by
the Irish Government that sus-
pected members of the outlawed
Irish Republican Army interned
without trial had been subject to
the so-called ‘‘five techniques’’
of torture.

British refusal to contest the
Commision report has been
interpreted as a tacit admission
that its security forces used the
technique--hooding, subjection
of intense lights and continuous
noise, forced spread-eagled wall

food, water and sleep.

In announcing the decision
not to contest the report, British
Attorney-General Sam Silkin
promised the techniques would
“not under any circumstances
be reintroduced as an aid to
interrogation.”

VANCOUVER § (CUP)--Univer-
sity of B.C. students are being
urged to send telegrams protes-
ting education cutbacks and
tuition fee increases to their
MLAs, Student Board of Gov-
ernors member Moe Sihota said
Thursday. Sihota said he has a
list of students from different
constituencies in the province
and is contacting them about the
telegrams.

The telegrams will back up
Tuesday’s Board decision to ask
the Universities Council for
more money before raising tuit-
ion fees, Sihota said.

The council divides the pro-

vincial grant between BC's
three public universities, and
cannot give UBC more money
unless it receives more from the
government.
Sihota said the Student Re-
presentative Assembly decided
at its Wednesday meeting to
send the telegrams.

 

standing and deprivation of »

‘British officialsa

Consequently, he asked the
Dublin authorities to drop the
case pending before the Euro
pean Court of Human Rights
and cooperate in bringing peace
to Northern Ireland.

But Irish Attorney-General
Declan Costello rejected the
request and announced that
Dublin would continue to press
the case to insure that the five
techniques not to be used in the
future.

Meanwhile, there have been
widespread calls for complete
disclosure of the names of all
those responsible for the torture
before the case can be fully
closed. Amnesty International
has urged the government in
London to name all individuals
who knew the techniques were
being used, and to say what
positions these people now oc-
cupy.

Even the staunchly anti-IRA
Catholic Bishop Edward Daley
of Londonderry said, **‘Many
people are asking if those who
have been indicted for torture
by the European Commission of
Human Rights are to be brought
before the courts, as they should
be. Many people are asking if
these people are still members
of the security forces. These are
questions that should be ans-
wered, and answered honest-
ly.””

The names of those associat- .

ed with torture were not reveal-
ed in the Commission's 563-
page report last fall. The report
did say that ‘‘official tolerance
(of the mistreatment) existed
both at the level of the direct
superiors of those having com-

Send tuition
protests SOS |

its representatives to Victoria to
lobby MLAs, Sihota said.

**We want to talk to them (the
MLAs) before the education
budget is discussed in the
house,’’ Sihota said.

He said he is also planning a
meeting between student re-

presentatives and the Univer- ©

sities Council to discuss funding
and accessibility to universities.

“I have sent a letter to
(Council Chairman) William
Armstrong today asking him to
ask for the meeting,’ he said.
‘“We want to have it before the
next board meeting on April 1."’

Sihota said council also wants
to start a letter campaign and
will ask Deans, Department
Heads and the Faculty Associa-
tion to write to the Universities
Council asking for more money
for the university.

They will also prepare a
petition for students. to sign, he

however,

mitted the acts in question anu
at higher levels.”’ .

The report implied that those
connected with the torture could
be criminally liable for prosecu-
tion. Under intenSe pressure
from the British government,
the Commission
agreed to disguise the names by
using a letter and number code.

Up to now, there has been
only one serious attempt to
break this curtain of secrecy and

* pinpoint responsibility. Last

year, the Dublin magazine Hi-
bernia succeeded in decoding
the Commission’s report. Two
Hibernia reporters then prepar-

ed a series of articles naming 26 ©

Northern Irish policemen and
six British Army officers ‘‘who

were in positions of authority...
and were directly or indirectly
- associated with the torture.”’

The articles claimed that none
of the 32 men had been disci-.
plined in any way, that all had-
remained in the security forces
and that some even had been
promoted.

Reportedly under pressure
from the British government,
however, Irish authorities con-
vinced Hibernia’s printers not to
publish the articles.

The British have adopted
other means as well to prevent
public disclosure of the names
of those involved. Sources in
Belfast report that anyone who
has tried to bring legal action in
Northern Ireland against those
who carried out the torture has

pproved torture

been offered large sums of
money to settle out of court:

Nearly $1 million has been
paid out over the past five years
to people who were subjected to
the five techniques, including
almost $25,000 given to one
former IRA man now living in
the Irish Republic.

Every person who has recei- |
ved such compensation has
been required to sign a pledge
not to pursue the matter any
further in the courts. Since
virtually all the cases that were |
brought before the European
Commission have been dealt
with in this manner, none of
those accused of carrying out
torture has been publicly identi-
fied in court.

Handicapped benefit

Human Resources Minister
Bill Vander Zalm announced.
Friday a 6.3 million benefit
package for the handicapped
which raises family rates by $50
a month and gives some single
recipients a $57 a month hous-
ing allowance.

Those living with relatives or
in government-supported ho-
mes will not receive allowance.

He said the handicapped will
be treated differently to welfare
recipients. Under the Guarant-
eed Annual Income (GAIN)
Legislation all social services-
mincome, welfare, disabled are
grouped together.

Members of the BC Coalition
of the Disabled protested on
Monday Feb. 24 in Victoria the
GAIN Legislation which one
member described as ‘‘detri-
mental.’’

“‘We want a separate Act,’’
said Kaya Prazak vice chairper-
son of the BCCD, ‘‘Physically
disabled people have different
needs.”’

To benefit from the Act an
individual must be 18 or over,
mentally ill or mentally retarded
or have a physical malfunction,

be permanently disabled, medi-

cally certified unemployable or .

untrainable.

Prior to when- the Act was
brought in October 1976 a
disabled person was receiving
$265 per month. There was not
cost of living allowance attached
although the cost of living had
risen 27.4 per cent.

Federal money was given to
the provincial government to
cover the rise in the cost of
living but according to Prazak it
was shuffled under the table.
Gordon Gibson, Liberal MLA
said the use of the money was
up to the minister’s discretion.

“He felt we did not need it,”’
said Prazak. The poverty line by
government standards is $285
per month.

“They (government) expect-
ed us to live on $265 a month to
meet minimum, decent living
conditions,’’ said Prazak.

She said the main thrust of
the protest was over rent sub-
sidation. ‘‘We do not want to
spend more than a quarter of
our income on rent.”’

“There is subsidized housing,
but there is a five year waiting

list,’’ she said, ‘‘and if you go
into an institution you are not
eligible for GAIN. You receive
$25 a month and that is suppos-
ed to integrate you into society.
With transportation costs that is
about one trip intd town; you are
totally isolated.”’

A trip in an Easter Seal Bus
from Vancouver to Burnaby
costs a disable. person $8.

‘*We want to loosen the |
strings that are binding the
disabled and free physical barr-
iers so we can function more
properly,’’ Prazak said.

Vander Zalm estimated that
half of the 11,000 single handi-
capped people will be eligible |
for the $57 housing allowance.

The provincial government
will pay $4.5 million of the total
6.3 million package, the rest
being picked up by the federal
government.

Also announced on Friday
was a homemaker service to
help a handicapped person’s |
spouse run the home and take a
job. This service and rate in-
creases will take effect July
Ist.

 

This is a first of two quizzes.
You will be happy, if not
delighted, to know that there
will be prizes. That’s right, a
grand prize of a ticket to see
Chuck Berry-at UBC War
Memorial Gym late in March. In
addition to that, the winner will
also get a soon-to-be-released
4S by a local group that will also
appear on the show.

Second prize will only get the
single. The winners will be
announced in a forthcoming
issue of THE OTHER PRESS.
So don’t delay, get your entries
in today!

1. What was Gordon Lightfoot’s

 

(Hint: in 1960 on Chateau Rec-
ords.) :
2. Name Guess Who’s first 45
release that became gold twice.
(Not at the same time).

3. What was the first national
label to show interest and sign
B.C. artists during the boom in
the late sixties?

4. Who is Richie Yorke?

5. Which L.A. based band in the
middle sixties had three Cana-
dian members? (Hint: Named
after a steamroller.) Name the
three members.

6. In San Francisco in 68, which
Vancouver band ruled the F.M.

air-waves, having the most re-
quested song of the summer?

CANADIAN MUSIC TRIVIA CONTEST

>

Roger Stomperud

Who? What song?

7. The Staccatos enjoyed some
Canadian success in the ’60s.
However, under the leadership
of Les Emmerson and a name
change had a huge hit with the
B side of ‘Hello Melinda Good-
bye’ in late 1970. Name the
group and the song.

8. While still in his teens, which
Vancouver Folk-singer started
his own record label, New
Syndrome, featuring the Col-
lectors and the Eternal Triangle
and himself?

9. ‘Name all three members of
the Eternal Triangle.

10. Terry Jacks publishing com-
pany is called Gone Fishing.

 

 

first American chart success? ~

What is his label called?

 

' Council also decided to send,

t : Fi en

said. cA