Statement from RFJ member Elish McCabe expressing anger and condemning the way in which the family of Peter McBride have been treated by the British Secretary of State Mo Mowlam. Mrs. McCabe is now calling on Mo Mowlam to immediately facilitate a meeting between the family and Bill Clinton.
Mrs.McCabe said:
"Mo Mowlam gave assurances that families would have adequate notice of prison releases, and in addition to this she personally gave the McBride family an assurance that the two Scots Guards convicted of the murder of their teenage son Peter would not be the first to be released on the Prisoner Release Scheme. She has broken her word on both of these assurances. Instead she has treated the McBride`s with contempt.
This type of treatment of the victims of state violence is similar to what one would have expected from previous British administrations. We were supposed to move beyond this type of treatment. Are the McBride family in some way not deserving of the sensitivity that she talked about in relation to victims families ? Are they to be forgotten like so many families who have lost loved ones at the hands of the state ? Are they to be reinstated in the British Army like Private Lee Clegg ?
The treatment of the McBride family should be condemned by all right thinking people, everyone should spare a thought for them today.
Relatives for Justice are now calling on Mo Mowlam to immediately facilitate a meeting between President Bill Clinton and the McBride family. If the President is to meet victims then it is imperative that he meet the families most in distress at this moment, among them the McBride family. If he is to meet victims and listen to their views then he has to meet the McBrides."