The US House of Representatives has called on the British government to open an independent inquiry into the recent murder of the Lurgan solicitor Ms Rosemary Nelson.
The House voted last night for a resolution which "calls on the government of the United Kingdom to launch an inquiry totally independent of the Royal Ulster Constabulary to gather evidence, conduct the ground investigation and issue a detailed, public report on the murder of defence attorney Rosemary Nelson".
The resolution also calls on the British government "to institute an independent judicial inquiry into allegations that defence attorneys are systematically harassed and intimidated by security forces and to implement the United Nations Special Rapporteur's recommendation for an independent inquiry into the possibility of collusion in the killing of defence attorney Patrick Finucane".
In a separate resolution, the House voted to recognise "the historic significance of the first anniversary" of the Belfast Agreement. It called for the US to remain involved politically and economically to ensure its long-term success, and "salutes" the British and Irish leaders and political parties in Northern Ireland.
The resolution calling for the independent inquiry into the murder of Ms Nelson refers to her testimony to the human rights sub-committee of the House last September, when she "stated that she had been harassed and intimidated by the RUC in her capacity as a defence attorney and that she had been `physically assaulted by a number of RUC officers and that the difficulties with the RUC included at their most serious, making threats against my personal safety including death threats'."
Last week, the House International Affairs Committee voted unanimously to ban the FBI from holding training courses for the RUC until a completely independent inquiry excluding the RUC is set up into the murder of Ms Nelson. Tomorrow the committee will hold a hearing into "the need for new and acceptable policing in Northern Ireland".