A DUP colleague drew my attention to the North Belfast Sinn Fein blog and an article, posted on 27 August 2010, about North Belfast man Fra Hughes, who is pictured with local Sinn Fein councillor Conor Maskey.The blog post reports that Fra Hughes, a North Belfast businessman, is a supporter of Palestine and a quick trawl of the internet reveals that 'Fra Hughes founded Belfast Friends of Palestine and is highly active in the struggle against the Israeli occupation'. It seems that he is also a practitioner of reiki, a form of alternative therapy.
The friend who drew my attention to this Sinn Fein blog post pointed out the similarity between the man in the picture above and the person who was wandering about on the Crumlin Road this summer wearing a blue bib as a 'human rights observer'. He was very keen to film people from the unionist and loyalist community but when he was asked to identify himself he refused to do so. Moreover the same 'human rights observer' features prominently in a vitriolic youtube video documentary, providing a staunchly republican and thoroughly perverse view of Orange parades.
The similarity is indeed remarkable and it seems that our blue-bibbed 'human rights observer' is indeed Fra Hughes, unless of course he has a double!. I can't understand why he was unwilling to identify himself when he is happy to do so on the Sinn Fein blog and numerous youtube videos relating to Palestine.
What conclusion do you draw from this Nelson?
ReplyDeleteThat it was pointless for him to refuse to identify himself when his picture was already on the internet. That is certainly one conclusion you can draw.
DeleteThe conclusion is that he is far from independent in his role as a human rights observer and should not be given permission to walk beyond police lines to film wherever he likes.
DeleteThe conclusion I draw from this is. An alleged activist who uses the internet and has their face all over the internet, is naive if they think they can remain nameless.
ReplyDelete