Sir, - Terry Butler (July 20th) draws attention to the suppression of the right to free speech in Iran, in the course of which three students recently lost their lives. Apparently, the police mounted an attack on the students, just as a peaceful demonstration was about to end. Such attacks, are, of course, to be condemned.
According to Mr Butler, Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian government to honour its commitment to Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This action is very commendable.
However, within a mile of Amnesty's Irish headquarters in Fleet Street, in our own fair city, similar incidents, (without, it must be said, lasting injury), have been taking place in the last year or so.
The reason for the Garda intervention in these cases - officially at any rate - has been a claimed threat to public order, not the fact that the demonstrations were in defence of the rights of others, a cherished Amnesty objective. These particular demonstrations, be it noted, were in defence of the right to life of the unborn.
So, being now armed by the Irish public with "one million signatures for human rights," one might like to know what position has Amnesty taken in defending these defenders of that most basic human right of all, the right to life.
Well, none that we are aware of, I'm afraid. Obviously, when signing up for Amnesty's "one million signatures" last year, we didn't give sufficient attention to the small print. - Yours, etc., Donal O'Driscoll,
Dargle Road, Blackrock, Co Dublin.
