SAN FRANCISCO: Labour MP Ken Livingstone claimed yesterday there were
rogue elements among British security forces in Northern Ireland that
''shoot to kill'' and that the Government covered up such shootings. He
said some members of MI5, the RUC, and the Army assassinated Republican
sympathisers in the province and got away with it. Mr Livingstone,
giving evidence for the defence in the extradition trial in San
Francisco of suspected IRA member James Smyth, added: ''Any British MP
will be willing to say off the record, yes, there had been an unofficial
shoot-to-kill policy.'' Smyth, 39, is one of 38 men who escaped from
Northern Ireland's Maze prison in 1983. Britain wants to extradite him
to complete a 20-year sentence for the attempted murder of an off-duty
prison guard. His defence against extradition is that he will be
discriminated against, harmed, or killed if he is returned to the
province.
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