Security Correspondent, Prime Time
A court in Lebanon has dismissed an appeal brought by Mahmoud Bazzi against his conviction for the murders of two Irish soldiers, Privates Tom Barrett and Derek Smallhorne, who were abducted and murdered in April 1980.
The court ruled there were no grounds for the 76-year-old to appeal the conviction and 15-year sentence imposed by the Military Court in Beirut last December.
The families of Tom Barrett and Derek Smallhorne were informed by the Department of Defence earlier todya of the ruling, as was John O Mahony, who survived the ambush and gave evidence against Mahmoud Bazzi during the trial.
A long road to justice for two murdered Irish soldiers
Updated / Tuesday, 13 Apr 2021
20:57
On 18 April 1980, three army privates were stopped by a militia known as the De Facto Force
Security Correspondent, Prime Time
John O Mahony spent 40 years waiting to see the man who shot him and murdered his colleagues brought to justice.
In December, a seven-judge military court in Lebanon found 76-year-old Mahmoud Bazzi guilty of the murders of Privates Thomas Barrett and Derek Smallhorne.
The verdict came five years after John stood in front of those judges to recount the events of 18 April 1980. That is the man who shot me, John told the court, pointing directly at Mr Bazzi.
Increased Security Crucial to Protect Peacekeepers Risking ‘Ultimate Sacrifice’, United Nations Staff Union Says, Citing 15 Killed by Deliberate Attacks in 2020
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At least 15 United Nations and associated personnel 12 peacekeepers and three civilians were killed in malicious attacks in the line of duty in 2020, according to the Standing Committee for the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service of the United Nations Staff Union.
Deliberate killings in 2020 bring the total death toll in the past 11 years to at least 440 United Nations and associated personnel killed from a diversity of attacks, including from improvised explosive devices, rocket and artillery fire, mortar rounds, indirect fire, landmines, grenades, suicide attacks, targeted assassinations and armed ambushes.
UN chief welcomes murder conviction for 1980 blue helmet killings in Lebanon December 30, 2020
Peacekeepers stand guard in Beirut, Lebanon, after the rain. courtesy UN/Pasqual Gorriz
NEW YORK United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed Lebanon’s decision to bring to justice the man found guilty of killing two UN peacekeepers decades ago.
Deputy UN Spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Monday that Guterres “took note” of the Dec. 22 verdict by the country’s Permanent Military Court, which convicted and sentenced 76-year-old Mahmoud Bazzi to 15 years in prison for the decades-old kidnapping and killing of two UN peacekeepers and causing serious injury to a third.