VICTIMS OF IRA FACE NEW BATTLE FOR LIBYA PAYMENTS

▶ Qaddafi’s regime supplied Irish Republican Army with explosives

British victims of Irish republican terrorism are preparing legal action to force the UK government to share a report on compensation claims by those injured and bereaved in attacks that used explosives supplied by the regime of Muammar Qaddafi.

William Shawcross, a writer and former charity regulator, delivered a report in March that examined how best to secure compensation from Libya for victims of terrorism, but the government has not committed to publishing his findings.

Families of victims responded angrily yesterday, because they had believed that the report would be made public and would bolster their campaign to persuade the UK to take a more active role in pursuing their cases.

Mr Shawcross’s task was to inform government thinking on the subject and advise on the level of compensation that should be sought.

Belfast lawyer Kevin Winters, who is taking legal action on behalf of families of victims, told The National that he was taking several steps to see the report first ordered by the former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt.

“There was an expectation on behalf of victims that they would get access to the report, if not the whole of it,” he said.

“We accept there may be sensitive issues in relation to intelligence that may be subject to redaction, and we accept that.”

At the time of his appointment in March last year, Mr Shawcross said the “victims of the IRA terrorism sponsored by Qaddafi deserve all support for their efforts to obtain redress from the Libyan government”.

Mr Shawcross said yesterday that he submitted a “confidential report for the Foreign Secretary” in March this year and it was up to the government whether to make it public.

The UK’s longstanding position has been not to pursue government-to-government negotiations with Libya on behalf of victims.

The Qaddafi regime supplied guns and explosives to the Irish Republican Army during its decades-long struggle for a united and independent Ireland, known as The Troubles, that left more than 3,500 people dead.

A 1998 agreement ended the armed conflict.

Six years later, Qaddafi agreed to dismantle his chemical weapons programme and pay compensation to victims of the Lockerbie bombing.

But the deal struck with former prime minister Tony Blair did not address the issue of broader compensation claims for victims of Libyan-supplied explosives.

The families of victims of Libyan-provided Semtex have been told they should launch individual claims rather than rely on the government of Boris Johnson to negotiate with any future Libyan government.

But relatives say that the suggestion is impractical, and compared the government’s stance to that of the US, which passed laws in 2008 that allowed the Qaddafi regime to pay $1 billion (Dh3.67bn) in compensation for American victims.

There was an expectation on behalf of victims that they would get access to the report, if not the whole of it KEVIN WINTERS Lawyer

The families saw the appointment of Mr Shawcross as a boost to their attempts, and during meetings highlighted the cases of victims who had died or committed suicide without securing compensation.

Foreign Office minister Liz Sugg said last week that the Covid-19 pandemic had hampered the government’s efforts to examine the report.

“The issue of UK victims of Qaddafi-sponsored IRA terrorism remains important to Her Majesty’s Government,” she said.

“Government ministers will consider the report in detail in due course, including whether to publish any elements of it.”

Jonathan Ganesh, who was injured in a 1996 IRA bombing in east London, said that victims were upset that they might not see the report.

“Victims and their families are absolutely devastated to learn that the government is apparently unwilling to publish Mr Shawcross’s report,” he said.

“It is heart-breaking, because the government appointed Mr William Shawcross as our representative.”