Солтүстік Ирландиядағы "Атуға рұқсат" саясатының күдігі

Alleged policy by British security forces during the Troubles

During the Troubles in Northern Ireland, British security forces were accused by some of operating a "shoot to kill" policy, under which suspected paramilitary members were killed without an attempt being made to arrest them. This alleged policy was claimed to be most frequently directed against suspected members of Irish republican paramilitary organisations, such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). According to an 1985 inquiry by a team of international lawyers titled Shoot to Kill?, undercover security force units were "trained to shoot to kill even where killing is not legally justifiable and where alternative tactics could and should be used." The British government, including the Northern Ireland Office, consistently denied that there was ever a "shoot to kill" policy, stating that "like everyone else, the security forces must obey the law and are answerable to the courts for their actions." Notable incidents where a "shoot to kill" policy was alleged to have been used include the Loughgall ambush, ambush at Drumnakilly, Coagh ambush, Clonoe ambush and Operation Flavius. These incidents were all operations carried out by the security forces against the IRA and INLA, and resulted in 21 Irish republican paramilitaries being killed. Other notable incidents involving civilian deaths include the death of Fergal Caraher, who was fatally shot by a Royal Marine at a checkpoint, and the killings of Karen Reilly and Martin Peake, who allegedly drove through a British Army checkpoint at high speed; for the latter case, one soldier, Lee Clegg, was subsequently tried for the shootings. The killing of Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) member Brian Robinson by undercover British soldiers is notable for being the most prominent of the very few alleged "shoot to kill" incidents where the victim was a Ulster loyalist.

Some of the victims' families were awarded reimbursement of legal expenses from the Ministry of Defence following cases brought to the European Court of Human Rights against the British government. The European judges considered four cases between 1982 and 1992 in which 14 people were killed. They involved the deaths of 12 IRA members and two civilians (one a Sinn Féin member) by the SAS, the RUC and the loyalist Ulster Defence Association, allegedly acting in collusion with the RUC. In the judgement, the court ruled that eight armed IRA men shot dead by soldiers of an SAS unit at Loughgall, County Armagh, in 1987, and two IRA men killed by RUC officers, had their human rights violated. It said this had arisen because of the failure of the state authorities to conduct a proper investigation into the circumstances of the deaths, though the court did not rule that the use of lethal force itself was unlawful. A similar finding was brought in the case of Sinn Féin member Patrick Shanaghan, who was killed by loyalist paramilitaries. The findings were brought under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Mark Urban (1992), Big Boys Rules: The SAS and the secret struggle against the IRA. London: Faber and Faber. Graham Ellison, Jim Smyth (2000), The Crowned Harp: Policing Northern Ireland. London: Pluto Press. pp. 116–133. Peter Taylor (2002), Brits: The War Against the IRA. London: Bloomsbury. Sean McPhilemy (1999), The Committee: Political Assassination in Northern Ireland. Roberts Rinehart. Scribd

Frank Doherty (1986), The Stalker Affair. Dublin: Mercer Press. Peter Taylor (1987), Stalker: The Search for Truth. London: Faber and Faber. The Committee on the Administration of Justice (1988), The Stalker Affair: More Questions than Answers. Belfast: CAJ. John Stalker (1988), Stalker. London: Harrap. Kevin Taylor with Kevin Mumby (1990), The Poisoned Tree. London: Sidgwick and Jackson. David Murphy (1991), The Stalker Affair and the Press. London: Unwin Hyman.

David Leigh, Jonathan Foster and Paul Lashmar, Ulster death squad secrets exposed / Sudden death in the dark, The Observer, 12 October 1986; p. 1 & p. 3