NI human rights chief launches scathing attack on Blair govt

The outgoing head of the North's Human Rights Commission has launched a scathing attack on the British government.

In a letter to Northern Secretary Paul Murphy, Professor Brice Dickson accused Tony Blair's Labour government of paying lip service to human rights.

He said Britain had failed to give his commission proper powers, had run down its numbers and had ignored or rejected its recommendations.

Professor Dickson accused the British government of obstructing inquiries into Bloody Sunday and the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, of tolerating republican and loyalist punishment attacks and of failing to support prisoners and young people with mental problems in the North.

Britain's Northern Ireland Office rejected the accusations, claiming they were incomplete and partial.