Human rights activists have told the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Dr Mo Mowlam, that they have no confidence in an RUC investigation into the murder of the Lurgan solicitor, Ms Rosemary Nelson, and are seeking UN intervention.
But Dr Mowlam after meeting the groups in Washington has expressed her confidence in the Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, and has pointed out that he has asked the FBI for assistance in the investigation. He has also asked for help from the Chief Constable of Kent in the investigation.
Dr Mowlam told a press conference the RUC Chief Constable was "one of the best" she has experienced and had shown himself to be a good leader of the RUC.
She said the speed with which Sir Ronnie had moved "to have got a chief constable from another force and to have talked to Director Louis Freeh at the FBI to get an international dimension to protect everyone against allegations and to make sure that the truth is reached is a plus".
Dr Mowlam was asked whether Ms Nelson had had any police protection and said she would have been entitled to low-grade protection but had not asked for it. "The difficulty is that protection for people who don't want the RUC is a difficult issue and we have done everything we can.
"The bottom line is that there was no specific indication in the case of Rosemary Nelson to demand it. It was low-grade at best."
Dr Mowlam said Human Rights Watch had written to her on behalf of Ms Nelson last October about threats to her life, and this had been passed on to the RUC. But it was "a question of low-grade estimates".
Later yesterday a coalition of human rights groups which had just met Dr Mowlam expressed dissatisfaction with the RUC investigation. Ms Julia Hall of Human Rights Watch said the groups had no confidence at all that this would be a fully independent investigation even though an outside chief constable would also be involved.
This was because Ms Nelson had lodged complaints alleging that the RUC had harassed and intimidated her and had even made death threats. It was completely inappropriate for the RUC to be involved in any respect in this investigation.
The human rights coalition which includes Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Lawyers Committee for Human Rights and the Belfast-based Committee on the Administration of Justice, has asked Dr Mowlam to add an international dimension by involving the United Nations.
This could be done specifically by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers who last year called on the British government to conduct a broad inquiry into allegations of RUC harassment of defence lawyers including police intimidation and death threats against Ms Nelson, the coalition said.
Dr Mowlam was receptive to these concerns and has agreed to take them up in a further meeting, Ms Hall said.
Mr Martin O'Brien of the Committee on the Administration of Justice said the groups viewed the murder as an attack on the rule of law and on the peace process. They were determined that this would be "the last lawyer to die in this way and also we hope the last person to die in the conflict".