A LEADING human rights lawyer and SNP supporter has called on Nicola Sturgeon's government to order a judge-led inquiry into the miners’ strike in Scotland.
Aamer Anwar broke ranks with his party to back a probe into the policing of the 1984-85 dispute, in which he said the hundreds of miners convicted in Scotland were "framed" and "left broken men".
Anwar said the Thatcher government had waged "political warfare" against Scotland's mining communities and called on the SNP Government not to "avoid the issue".
He said ministers should appoint a senior retired Scottish judge such as Lord Hardie, Lord Bonomy or Lord McCluskey, who have held some of Scotland's most senior legal positions, to chair it.
Speaking to the Sunday Herald Anwar also suggested Edgar Prais, one of Scotland’s lead QCs, as a potential candidate to lead an inquiry into the policing of the strike.
Campaigners have claimed the miners’ convictions were unsafe and politically motivated – particularly for picket line offences, for which miners claimed they were threatened with custodial sentences but offered less severe punishments if they accepted bail conditions banning them from picketing.
Last night, in a passionate plea, Anwar said nearly 500 Scottish miners had their “lives destroyed” and were “criminalised” by convictions in the strike that he claimed would not be returned by Scotland's courts now.
Scottish ministers have said it would be inappropriate to order an inquiry into the strike in Scotland saying it was for individuals to lodge their own appeals against convictions at the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC).
But Anwar pointed out that the landmark ruling that the 96 people who died at the Hillsborough football stadium disaster in 1989 were unlawfully killed, amid a catalogue of police failings, would not have been delivered if an official inquiry had not been held.
The Glasgow-based solicitor also claimed the policing of the strike over pit closures felt like an "invading army" in Scotland.
Anwar said a figure of the stature of retired judges such as Hardie, Bonomy or McCluskey, was needed to chair an inquiry because of the scale of the "miscarriage of justice" suffered by miners.
Hardie is a former Lord Advocate, Bonomy served as a judge of the international tribunal over war ceimes which took place in the former Yugoslavia, while McCluskey was the Scottish Solicitor General for Scotland.
Anwar's naming of potential inquiry chairs will pile further pressure on justice secretary Michael Matheson, who is expected to rule on the issue within the next few weeks.
Anwar said he was “not shy” to disagree with the SNP leadership on the issue, despite being one of the most high profile supporters of the party in Scotland's legal community.
He said: "There should be a review as people's lives were destroyed by convictions that hopefully wouldn't stand up now. People were framed for crime they didn't commit.
"There was political warfare and the miners and the mining communities were criminalised. Many miners were broken by what happened with the loss of their jobs, livelihoods and the wrongful arrests and convictions they had forced on them."
Anwar added: "It would require the Scottish Government to ask an eminent or senior retired judge or serving QC to take this forward by leading such a review. There are many eminent retired judges that would do this such as Lord Hardie, Lord Bonomy, Lord McCluskey or Edgar Prais QC.
"These are figures that are hugely respected in the legal community and in Scotland as a whole. If they were invited to do this it would be a major step forward.
"I don't think they (the Scottish Government) should avoid the issue."
Anwar went onto say that lodging individual appeals to the SCCRC would not secure justice for the miners and that a Hillsborough-style inquiry into the dispute would be their only hope.
He said: "The difficulty with relying on individuals to appeal and take forward their cases is that it's nigh impossible to take on the state, the judicial system and parliament. Relying on an individual simply taking forward their case against the state would have made it impossible to get justice over Hillsborough for example."
A Scottish Government spokesperson, in response to Anwar, said Matheson was still considering representations made by former miners at talks with him last month.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel