>From MCELROY@zodiac.rutgers.edu Thu Oct 22 17:53:13 1992

                     WOMAN SINN FEIN MEMBER MURDERED

      Belfast--A woman was once again the target of paramilitary killers last
week when they struck in a hotel bar near the city center.
      Sheena Campbell, a 29 year old mother and a student of law at Queen's
University, Belfast, was gunned down at the York Hotel on Botanic Ave on
Friday, October 16th, 1992. Two other students who were with her were
wounded in the attack, but not seriously.
      The murder was claimed by the outlawed Ulster Volunteer Force, which
alleged that Ms. Campbell, a member of Sinn Fein, was an active IRA volunteer.
This has been strongly denied by Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president.
Adams said that the claim of IRA involvement was "a transparent attempt to
excuse a brutal murder"
      Sheena Campbell is the sixth woman to be murdered so far this year in
the political violence. Four of the women have been Catholics deliberately
singled out by loyalist death squads. Ms. Campbell was in her second year of
law studies. She came from Lurgan, Co. Armagh, and in 1990 stood as a Sinn
Fein candidate in a by-election for Upper Bann. She was on the party's
executive and was due to be married to Brendan Curran, a prominent Sinn Fein
member and a councilor for Newry in South Down. She was the mother of a
nine-year old boy.
      Sinn Fein members have been the frequent targets of loyalist gunmen.
Last year the party was particularly badly hit. In one period of four weeks
during the summer, three members were murdered, including Sinn Fein
councilor Bernard O'Hagan. 
      Gerry Adams has been strongly critical of politicians, the media and the
church for what he calls 'demonizing' Sinn Fein, which he believes helps
motivate loyalist killer gangs to seek out party members as targets. He accused
those who ostracize Sinn Fein, saying that they 'cannot escape responsibility
for the murder.'
      He told the press: "Sheena was killed because she was a member of Sinn
Fein who had the courage, under difficult conditions, to stand up and articulate
Sinn Fein's point of view. To her killers, she was a nationalist who had refused
to stay in her place and to accept that she was a second class citizen. Sheena
refused to be ghettoized or marginalized." 
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more on this event when An Phoblacht/Republican News (Sinn Fein's weekly
newspaper) arrives. for further info on Ireland in Peacenet, see reg.ireland.