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British army made tapes of 'Hooded Men' interrogations

BRITISH army authorities made secret recordings of controversial interrogations carried out on the 'Hooded Men' in the 1970s.

The recordings were made during the interrogation of 14 Catholic men by RUC Special Branch members at a British army base in Ballykelly in August1971.

The files, marked 'Secret - UK eyes only" reveal that 400 hours of recordings were held at the British army's Intelligence Centre in Ash-ford in Kent and claim the RUC was given transcripts.

Details of the tapes are contained in secret British army files recently discovered by the Pat Finucane Centre (PFC).

The PFC says it also has evidence that a senior British army officer told the Compton Committee, set up to examine allegations of ill treatment, that there was a "continual recording" of the interrogations but it declined the opportunity to listen to them.

The 14 'Hooded Men', who were all interned without trial, claimed they were tortured.

They say they were hooded, deprived of sleep, food and water, forced to listen to loud static noise and made to stand in a stress position and beaten if they fell.

Others say they were forced to wear a hood and told they were going to be thrown from a helicopter hundreds of feet in the air even though they were just several off the ground.

In 1976, the European Commission on Human Rights ruled that the men had been tortured but this was later overturned on appeal when a court said they had been subjected only to inhumane and degrading treatment.

It is not know if the existence of the tapes was made known at the original hearings.

Last year the case was referred back to the European Court of Human Rights with the support of the Irish government.

The Pat Finucane Centre recently wrote to the Irish Attorney General Máire Whelan to make her aware of the existence of the tapes.

Sara Duddy from the Pat Finucane Centre said: "The 1978 judgement does not refer to the tapes or recordings of the interrogations.

"We don't know if the ECHR or the Irish government were made aware that this evidence existed when the original case was brought in 1978, however we believe the tapes, if still in existence, may provide probative evidence of the torture imposed on the 14 men."

Spokesman for the Hooded Men, Jim McIlmurray, said they are keen for the tapes to be made available to their legal representatives.

"We would welcome the disclosure of any tapes and would hope that at some stage our legal team will have a chance to review them.

"If they provide evidence of the torture of the men they can then be forwarded to the European Court of Human Rights."

A police spokeswoman said: "As there are current ongoing court proceedings, it would inappropriate to comment."