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March/April 2022 33
T
HE BAN against naming Soldier F, one of the Bloody Sunday
murderers, by his real name, remains in force, but only in the
UK. Last July, Colum Eastwood, leader of the SDLP, got around
the prohibition by naming him under privilege in the House of
Commons.
War criminal
‘Soldier F’ shot a number of
people including Patrick
Doherty on Bloody Sunday.
He did so while Doherty was
lying on the ground crawling
away from him. Barney
McGuigan stepped forward
with a white handkerchief
looking to help him
whereupon Cleary dropped to
one knee, aimed his rifle and
shot McGuigan in the head.
By David Burke
POLITICS
TWITT
When it comes to
naming Bloody
Sunday murderer,
Soldier F, Twitter
isn’t enforcing its
own rules that allow
censorship only in
accordance with the
laws of the tweeter’s
own country
The victims and families are not a threat to
Soldier F’s life?
The survivors and families of Bloody Sunday’s innocent murder victims
have known perfectly well who F is for years and have left him alone. He
has even posted selfies on social media, including one taken on a recent
holiday. There is another one of him in circulation in what looks like a
bar or hotel.
Does the IRA pose F a threat? Hardly. If they wanted him dead, it would
have happened by now. There is little chance that the IRA’s Army Council
would sanction a hit with their minions in Sinn Fein edging close to
political power in the South. Moreover, it suits them to have him alive as
he is a propaganda stick with which to beat the British government. The
same argument applies to dissident Republicans.
There is only one realistic threat to F, and that is from his own side. F
and his former superior, Colonel Derek Wilford, Commander of 1 Para,
know the full truth about what happened on Bloody Sunday. Wilford had
a secret conclave with soldiers F and H immediately before the Bloody
Sunday massacre. Soldier H has since died. If, as I suspect, Wilford gave
F and H orders to provoke the IRA by shooting at anyone who looked like
a possible IRA volunteer, then F has a lot to fear.
34 March/April 2022
Twitter squall
After the murder charges against F were dropped last year, his name
appeared on notices in Derry, proving, yet again, that his name was
well-known.
The ban on naming F only applies to the United Kingdom. F was named
by this magazine on its website A number of residents of the Republic
retweeted posts emanating from Village highlighting the publication of
the articles. They and Village were suspended by Twitter, mostly for a
12-hour period.
A few weeks ago, ‘F’ was named by Peadar Tóibín in the Dail. Village
reported Deputy Tobin’s speech later that night. Feargal McCann, whose
father was murdered by paratroopers ten weeks after Bloody Sunday,
read the story and transmitted a tweet about it. Twitter locked McCann’s
account.
A twitter force field to protect the uk
For a while it looked like Twitter might have had a point. It could have
argued that tweets are international. Hence, one emanating from the
Republic could reach the UK. The consequences of such an argument,
however, have a far-reaching potential. If, for example, a Russian Court
were to ban coverage of Alexei Navalny or Pussy Riot, Twitter might lock
the account of anyone who mentioned them.
Now it transpires that Twitter had the ability to block tweets from the
Republic flying across the border all along.
Will the PSNI pick on someone else?
Someone - presumably the PSNI - is putting pressure on Twitter to provide
them with the details of other account holders who have transmitted F’s
name. At things stand, at least one such individual, Jim Smith, not a
resident of the UK, has asked Twitter not to breach his GDPR rights by
furnishing anybody with his details. No doubt the PSNI is hoping to find
someone who is a resident of Northern Ireland and with a low profile, to
make its point.
The lone wolf argument
The judge in Derry who acceded to the PSNI’s request for the ban pointed
out in his judgment that threat assessments had been carried out in July
2019 and March 2021 which had found that F was at low risk from
dissident republicans but that the threat level could rise if F was to be
denied anonymity.
The judge also stated that F faced a threat not only from dissident
republicans but “from a lone actor, not a member of any organisation,
but someone who might be prepared to carry out an attack”.
These were perfectly reasonable grounds upon which to reach a
determination, especially in light of the dire warnings put before him by
the PSNI. However, in the months that have passed, no one from any
quarter has lifted a finger against F.
If this precedent is to come the norm, it will become virtually impossible
to name any defendant in future since anyone named in public could be
targeted by “someone who might be prepared to carry out an attack”.
Perhaps this could be a good thing – a robust extension of the idea that
all accused are innocent until proven guilty - but it is notable that the
PSNI is only making it for F, not for other criminals.
Byron lewis
Paratrooper Byron Lewis broke ranks and told the truth about what he
witnessed F do on Bloody Sunday.. In 1998 the Saville Inquiry – then up
and running – recorded that Lewis “has had to move out of his home.
Last night 2 men attacked the person he has been sharing a bungalow
with while he was
outside the house in his
car. First they attacked
the car, then they
dragged him [the other
man living at the
bungalow] out of the car
and beat him up…They
oered him a block of
concrete and said,
‘That’s your one chance.
Give it your best shot,
because afterwards
we’re going to kill you”.
They mentioned Bloody
Sunday, blood money,
the SAS,; and that
friends of theirs, and
people who dealt with the media, had been killed. They were very violent
and it was not possible to reason with them. “[Lewis] did not resist them,
was compliant, and they did not in fact harm him. His friend is in hospital
and is seriously hurt.” Lewis was also branded a traitor on an
ex-paratrooper website. Lewis is still in hiding 24 years later.
Byron lewis, a 1 para radio operator, seen here on the left
