Declassify and Save the Historical Jack the Ripper Documents
The British government continues to withhold information in files relating to the Whitechapel murders of 1888. These were a series of murders attributed to a killer known as Jack the Ripper. All attempts to have these documents completely declassified, including Freedom Of Information requests and appeals as late as 2011, have failed.
The government has asserted the need to protect informants more than a century after their deaths, in order to maintain the files’ secrecy. This argument does not hold up; other historical British files which contained details of informants have been declassified and after much shorter periods.
People and historians worldwide have a right to this information. The time to release it is long overdue. This petition is to save an important part of British heritage while also providing insights to other aspects of London history, such as criminology and various government and police policies.
If you would like to sign the petition and you are a British citizen, please click on or copy and paste the following link:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/18403
It will take you to the official government petition.
All other individuals outside of The United Kingdom please sign to show your support for the release and preservation of this important part of British heritage.
This petition is in support of full disclosure of British government documents relating to the Whitechapel Murders, also known as the Jack the Ripper case, from August 1888 onwards.
The unwarranted secrecy surrounding this historical series of unsolved murders has prevailed for over 120 years. We the undersigned therefore ask the British Government to declassify and make available to the public at the UK National Archives all blacked out or unpublished files, documents and papers relating to these murders in their entire and un-redacted form.
These files, documents and papers are not only an important part of British history, they also warrant preservation as a part of world heritage for future generations.
We urge the British government to accede to our request.
