U.S. honour for fallen lawyer
Assassinated human rights laywer Rosemary Nelson has been honoured by a
United States university. Seton Hall University in New Jersey awarded a
posthumous honorary doctorate to Nelson and flew in seven members of her
family, including her three young children, to watch her husband accept the
degree. The event took place during graduation ceremonies at Seton Hall on
Monday 24 March and before an attendance of 10,000 people.
Rosemary Nelson was killed by a bomb placed under her car as she left her
home in Lurgan on 15 March 1999. The attack was claimed by a shady
organisation styling itself the `Red Hand Defenders', but the involvement
of the British secret services and the RUC is widely suspected. The
so-called Red Hand Defenders have never before nor since used a device such
as that which killed Rosemary Nelson, nor have they shown the technological
or operational capability deployed in the attack.
A few months before her murder, Rosemary Nelson had travelled to the United
States to testify before the U.S. Congress about human rights abuses in the
Six Counties and the threats made against lawyers, including herself, by
the RUC.
``I know it is your hope and and ours that her voice will continue to be
heard,'' said Rosemary's husband, Paul Nelson, accepting the degree 10
weeks to the day after his wife's death. He added that ``Rosemary would
have been surprised at the esteem in which was held.''
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