Professor Kieran McEvoy:

The final part of the witch hunt narrative is the on-the-runs. As members will be aware, there was a system whereby, after negotiations between Sinn Féin and the UK Government, people who were on the run, that is, people who had left the Northern Ireland jurisdiction and were not sure whether or not they could return, were sent letters. Those were letters of comfort and, in effect, would say whether or not you were a person of interest and whether or not there was evidence against you. They were not an amnesty. One person who benefited from one of those letters is actually before the courts. The letters were simply statements to the effect that "this is the evidence at this moment", but if somehow your fingerprints or DNA were found on something, you would be liable to be prosecuted. Lady Hallett, a very distinguished judge, did a review when this story broke. It was very explicit and clear that these were letters of comfort and, in terms of legal significance, were not amnesties because if evidence came forward and you were liable to be prosecuted, you would be prosecuted. It is like intellectual whack-a-mole with this stuff because one silly argument is presented and you knock it down and another pops up and you just have to nerd away and keep at it. That is the witch hunt narrative. The UK Government has backed off on some of those arguments publicly but still keeps trotting them out. One is sort of burdened by fact and knowledge in some of these interactions.

That is the witch hunt narrative. It is fake news.