Lyra McKee Murdered: A Senseless Loss of Life

20/04/2019

Lyra McKee was short and fatally injured whilst observing and reporting on the riots in Londonderry

Lyra McKee, was not just a promising young journalist, she had already gained respect as a professional with integrity and determination. The 29 year old's life was snatched away amidst the scenes of rioting in Londonderry on the evening of Thursday 18th April.

Lyra had written for publications such as Private Eye, Buzzfeed, the Atlantic and Mosaic Science. She had recently been working for Mediagazer, a California-based trade publication covering the media industry.

In 2006, she was named Sky News Young Journalist of the Year in 2006 and ten years later Forbes Magazine named her as one of their 30 under 30 in European Media.

This violence and the senseless murder of Ms McKee happened on Good Friday, 21 years after The Belfast Agreement (more popularly referred to as The Good Friday Agreement, as it was signed on Good Friday in 1998), with shots being fired upon the police who were trying to defend the peace process.

It is a terribly sad theft of the life of a young woman, a champion of LGBT rights and someone who believed passionately in social and religious tolerance. This was someone who had a wonderful and valuable life ahead of her, who was loved by her family and her partner, Sara Canning, but also by many others.

My sympathies are with those who were close to her and have been robbed of the light she brought to their lives.

The cowardice of those who fired the shots that led Lyra's death will hopefully face justice; be tried in a court, found guilty and imprisoned for their despicable act of violence.  However, in addition to that, it is only right that we look at the shame that these individuals have brought upon themselves and the republican factions in Northern Ireland.

I do hope that their crimes are not celebrated by the terror organisations, the political parties they purport to represent or those who have a history of supporting the murderous acts of terrorists.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tweeted about the senseless murder of Lyra McKee, but how genuine is he?

Jeremy Corbyn was, in the 1980s and 1990s, involved with Red Action, an ultra-left group that expressed its 'unconditional and uncritical support' for the IRA. Patrick Hayes, a Red Action leader, and another member, Jan Taylor, were convicted of an IRA bombing campaign in England and sentenced to 30 years in jail. A third member, Liam Heffernan, was convicted of stealing explosives for another republican terrorist organisation, the INLA, and sentenced to 23 years.

Corbyn spoke at at least three Red Action meetings between 1985 and 1992 and the group sometimes met at his then-constituency office. He is well known for his pro-republican stance and for his support of terror organisations.

In October 1984, two weeks after an IRA bomb killed five at the Tory Party conference in Brighton, Corbyn invited convicted IRA volunteers Linda Quigley and Gerry MacLochlainn to the House of Commons, causing understandable uproar.

In 2014, whilst at a conference in Tunisia, Corbyn was pictured at a wreath-laying ceremony for terrorists linked to the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre.

How long will it be before he is expressing solidarity with the murderers of Lyra, an innocent and courageous journalist?