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Don
Mullan's
Acceptance Speech
I
wish to thank the International League for Human Rights
for this very special honor. I especially wish to thank
the League for its unfailing support for the struggle
for truth and justice fought for over three decades
by the families of those murdered on Bloody Sunday.
Professor Sam Dash, in particular, is owed a immense
debt of gratitude. After Lord Chief Justice Widgery
issued his Tribunal Report on the killings in 1972,Professor
Dash realized that not only the families of the deceased
had been betrayed but so too the International League
and, indeed, himself.
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Don Mullan Accepting the Award
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Prof.
Dash, representing the League, immediately set about
challenging the blatant cover-up of Bloody Sunday, placing
it in a universal Human Rights context. His report,
"Justice Denied", published by the League,
became a crucial foundation and inspiration for future
campaigning that, in 1998, lead to the historic decision
by the British Government to establish a new Bloody
Sunday Inquiry under Lord Mark Saville.
The
accuracy of Professor Dash's work has stood the test
of time and his challenge to Widgery's deliberately
flawed forensic conclusions has been proved correct
in recent months by independent forensic pathologists
engaged by the new Bloody Sunday Inquiry.
The
Bloody Sunday families, the wounded and the people of
Derry are grateful to the League for continuing to monitor
the new Inquiry through the presence of Bob Muse, successor
to Prof. Dash.
Finally,
I am conscious as I accept this award that there would
be no books, no songs, no poems or movies about Bloody
Sunday if it had not been for the families who never
gave up on their belief that one day their murdered
loved ones would be exonerated before the world. It
is their tenacity, their unfailing determination and
their unswerving faith in the power of truth that has
been rewarded by forcing a new Inquiry.
These
families are an example and an inspiration to ordinary
people worldwide who face insurmountable odds in the
struggle for justice and peace. They are ordinary people
who have achieve extraordinary results and it is in
their name that I accept this award this evening for
truly, it is they who are the real heroes.
(More
on Bloody Sunday)
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