Today is the 19th anniversary of the death of Pearse Jordan. Pearse, an IRA volunteer, was shot dead by British police in a shoot to kill operation. He was alone and driving along the Falls Road when his car was rammed by several unmarked RUC vehicles and as he left his car he was shot three times in the back. He was unarmed and several eye witnesses have recounted how following his car being rammed he seemed dazed as he staggered into the road before being executed without warning. He was repeatedly kicked as he lay dying in the street.
Following his murder the British released various false information to the media claiming variously that he had a bomb or gun in the car, he had left a bomb factory etc. All such claims were false and later the Committee on the Administration of Justice said ‘It now appears as a matter of course immediately following such incidents misleading information is passed to the press in a systematic fashion’.
Three weeks before his killing by the state in a pre-planned shoot to kill operation Pearse had been stopped while in car with his mother by the RUC, he was photographed and told he would be shot dead. In May 2001, Pearse Jordan’s case was heard by the European court of Human Rights. The Court agreed that Jordan’s death was in violation of Article 2 of the convention of human rights, a section of which reads: “Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law.”
Over the last 19 years his family, led by his parents, Hugh and Teresa, have campaigned for truth and justice over the state murder of their son. At every turn they have been met with obstruction and cover up from the British state.
Below is a song written in memory of Pearse Jordan by the Irish Brigade and performed by Gary Og.
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