Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · 8d

📢 Joint Seminar: Unpacking the UK–Ireland Joint Framework on Legacy

Hosted by CAJ, QUB's Mitchell Institute & Human Rights Centre, this seminar brings together NGO leaders and academic experts to examine the new Joint Framework on Legacy. 🔍📄

🔗 Register here 👉 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

A flyer for the Joint seminar titled 'Unpacking the joint framework on legacy'. Date and Time: 10th October, 10am. Venue: The Great Hall, Queen's University Belfast. Logos of supporting organisations are along the bottom including: Queen's University Belfast Mitchell Institute and Human Rights Centre, CAJ, Pat Finucane Centre, Amnesty International, Relatives for Justice. Registrations are required. In-person only event.

1 1

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · 14d

CAJ Director, Daniel Holder, attended this morning's press conference following the publication of the McCullough Review findings.

"It should not have taken McCullough to get to the bottom of PSNI surveillance"

Full statement with @amnestyuk.bsky.social 👉 caj.org.uk/latest/mccul...

A screenshot from the BBC news website showing a photo of CAJ Director Daniel Holder. The text in the article reads:

Daniel Holder, Director of the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ), says it should not have taken the McCullough Review "to get to the bottom of PSNI surveillance".

"There is a current oversight mechanism the UK Investigatory Powers Commissioners Office (IPCO) that missed this," he says.

"This was not the mechanism that was supposed to be in place on the back of the Good Friday Agreement."

Mr Holder suggests the PSNI fell short of what was envisaged by the Patten Commission which was set up during the peace process to reform policing in Northern Ireland.

"The Patten Commission had recommended a specific 'Commissioner for Covert Law Enforcement in Northern Ireland' to ensure covert policing techniques were being used within the law," the CAJ director says.

"This unimplemented commitment should now be taken forward."

1 2

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · 21d

In the face of our rights to protest being dismantled, we are hosting another 'Know Your Rights to Protest' workshop in Derry.✊

🗓️ 23 Sept
⏰ 17.30
🏛️ Museum of Free Derry

Sign up 👉 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/know-your-...

A poster with the title 'Know Your Rights to Protest' Guide Launch written on it. Various line art icons depicting protest, policing and courts are placed around the text.

1 2

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · 22d

A new report by @colinmurray.bsky.social and @aoifemod.bsky.social explains claims the UK could leave the ECHR without breaching the Good Friday Agreement are “not credible.”

caj.org.uk/wp-content/u...

The front cover of CAJ's newest publication titled "The Belfast/ Good Friday Agreement 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights: Explainer". The cover includes this title as well as a partially covered image of 'The Treaty Series' agreement for the Belfast Agreement.

5 16

Reposted by CAJ

Public Interest Litigation Support (PILS) @pilsni.bsky.social · 29d

Our right to protest must be protected!

Join us for the Derry launch of 'Know Your Rights to Protest'. It's the first NI-specific guide on the topic, written for local organisers.

🗓️23 Sept @ 17.30 @museumfreederry.bsky.social

@cajni.bsky.social
@friendsofearthni.bsky.social
@ejni.bsky.social

The protest guide is held up by a guest at the Belfast launch, with other guests chatting in the background.

1 1 1

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · 28d

CAJ is recruiting a Solicitor (Legacy) to join our team in Belfast.

This post will focus on legacy litigation, human rights and safeguarding the peace process.

📄 Find out more & apply here: caj.org.uk/get-involved...
📅 Closing date: 6th October 2025

4 4

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · 29d

The oversight system for covert powers in NI has failed before - from Operation Ballast to Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey’s revelations. We need the Patten-recommended Commissioner for Covert Law Enforcement, still missing 25 years on.
@lukejbutterly.bsky.social

www.thedetail.tv/articles/wat...

Watchdog kept in dark as PSNI spied on journalists

Police were expected to flag any journalist surveillance during annual inspections

www.thedetail.tv

1 2

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · Sep 4

Hi Damien, thanks very much for this important reminder. We strive to ensure our work is accessible as possible for everyone and will ensure going forward we use ALT text. Thanks, Hannah

1

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · Sep 1

The ECHR is deeply embedded within the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. This commitment does not allow the UK Government to formulate some version of what it regards as ECHR-equivalent protections.

Read our joint statement 👇
@ppr-org.bsky.social & Human Rights Consortium NI

1 86 150

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · Aug 26

The Morton Report has been hidden for 50 years. Similar MI5 reports are public. It’s time for PSNI to end needless secrecy and release it. @declassifieduk.org

www.declassifieduk.org/police-overz...

Police ‘overzealous’ in censoring MI5 report on Northern Ireland

Campaigners in Belfast have criticised police for not releasing a file from the Troubles after similar documents were discovered in Foreign Office archives.

www.declassifieduk.org

2 3

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · Aug 15

Voices for justice and accountability gathered in London's St Ethelburga’s Centre last month for a panel event on state impunity in the UK

Human rights advocates highlighted ongoing concerns about policing, protest rights, and historical injustices.

@dooleydooley.bsky.social@annumayor.bsky.social

7 7

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · Jul 30

Eugene took over his family’s decades-long campaign for truth and justice after the murder of his brother Paul in 1994. His strength, dignity and determination leaves behind a lasting legacy.

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · Jul 30

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Eugene Thompson.

Our full joint statement with Relatives for Justice can be read in post or on our website: lnkd.in/e3uCcxQ2

1

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · Jun 20

State Impunity and Injustice

🗓️ Monday 30 June
📍 St. Ethelburga's Bishopsgate, London
🕕 6–8pm

From Northern Ireland to Grenfell: join top legal & human rights voices to examine how state harm is covered up - and resisted.

Free, registration required 👇 www.eventbrite.ie/e/state-impu...

Reposted by CAJ

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · Jun 19

Really important ECtHR decision this morning declaring the Dalton case inadmissible. This is a really important case on human rights and the legacy of the NI conflict:

hudoc.echr.coe.int#{%22itemid%2...

2 8 12

Reposted by CAJ

Equality Coalition @equalitycoalition.bsky.social · Jun 16

📢 Upcoming report launch:
'Screened Out Without Mitigation: Returning Equality in NI to the Margins'

📅 Friday 27 June
⏰️ 10:30am
📍 Room 115, Parliament Buildings

Register: forms.gle/o3rCqzL9e6Ai...

Further info below

‘Screened Out Without Mitigation’ Returning Equality in Northern Ireland to the Margins

A report for the Equality Coalition on the current operation of the Section 75 Equality Duty and the ‘Call-in’ Mechanism within Northern Ireland’s 11 local councils. Friday 27 June, 10:30 – 13:00, Roo...

forms.gle

1 1 1

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · Jun 12

Our 'Mapping Far-Right Activity Online in NI Project Report' was cited in the @nytimes.com🗞️ with Rabble Cooperative's Dessie Donnelly highlighting how far-right actors are co-opting crime and twisting it into anti-immigrant dog-whistles.

Read it here 👇
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/w...

Anti-Immigrant Riots Set Northern Irish Town on Edge

www.nytimes.com

1 4

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · Jun 11

@irishnews.com www.irishnews.com/news/norther...

Terminally ill brother of Catholic man killed by loyalists appeals to British government for truth

Paul ‘Topper’ Thompson shot dead in 1994

www.irishnews.com

Reposted by CAJ

Declassified UK @declassifieduk.org · Jun 11

👉NEW -- State secrecy on trial

by Gráinne Teggart

Why is Hilary Benn obstructing the truth about a murder three decades ago?
www.declassifieduk.org/state-secrec...

State secrecy on trial

Why is Hilary Benn obstructing the truth about a murder three decades ago?

www.declassifieduk.org

2 18 20

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · Jun 11

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The Troubles: Supreme Court to hear Paul Thompson inquest disclosure challenge

The government is bringing a case over the release of intelligence relating to the 1994 murder of Paul Thompson.

www.bbc.co.uk

1

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · Jun 11

We’re at the UK Supreme Court today as the NI Secretary of State appeals a ruling to release evidence to the family in the 1994 sectarian murder of Paul Thompson - shot by loyalists with concerns of state collusion.

Watch the stream: supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2...

2 4

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · Jun 10

Our recent report, produced by the Rabble Cooperative, analyses the rise in far-right online activity and the offline consequences in NI. It highlights how disinformation, paramilitary involvement, and weak State responses are fuelling such violence. (2/2)

Full report 👇
caj.org.uk/publications...

Mapping Far Right Activity Online in Northern Ireland Project Report - Committee on the Administration of Justice

This report explores the rise of far-right discourse in Northern Ireland on social media has become a key platform for spreading racist stereotypes, misinformation, and hate targeting migrants and min...

caj.org.uk

1 1

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · Jun 10

We are deeply concerned by the rioting in Ballymena last night, with clear racial motives. These acts of hate are not isolated - they are part of a disturbing pattern of orchestrated racist intimidation that has been building across Northern Ireland. (1/2)

www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/norther...

Families pile into cars as they flee aftermath of violent night

Mike Nesbitt stands "in solidarity in the first case with colleagues from around the world who are working here"

www.belfastlive.co.uk

1 1 2

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · May 29

Our Solicitor, Úna Boyd has joined hundreds of legal professionals across the UK and Ireland in signing open letters calling for urgent government action in response to the situation in Gaza.

Read more 👇
theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

irishtimes.com/politics/202...

UK must impose sanctions on Israel to meet legal obligations, say more than 800 lawyers

Exclusive: Letter to PM signed by retired supreme court justices among others says lack of action will imperil international legal system

theguardian.com

7 7

CAJ @cajni.bsky.social · May 28

📣 Know your rights when protesting in NI! ✊

We're formally launching our guide to help you understand the law, your rights & PSNI powers.

📅 Wed 4 June, 5:30pm 2 Royal Ave, Belfast.
Sign up 👉 eventbrite.co.uk/e/know-your-...

8 9