05 22 02 - POW Mick Kenny 

05 22 02 - Belmarsh Four, Slovakia Three 

05 20 02 - Four Men Remanded in London 

05 18 02 - Slovakia Three 

05 17 02 - Supergrass witness had “chequered criminal past” 

05 14 02 -  IPOW Mick Kenny - UPDATE

05 12 02 - O'Loan Report on Rosemary Nelson Assassination to be Released 

05 09 02 - Dublin Man Jailed Four Years for 'Membership', Stun Gun 

05 07 02 -  'Slovakia 3' Sentenced 30 Years Each 

05 06 02 - London POW Event 

05 06 02 - Statement by Bernie McLaughlin 

05 06 02 - Statement at Maghaberry Gaol 

05 06 02 - Report on Mass Protest at Maghaberry

05 04 02 - Mass Picket at Maghaberry 

05 01 02 - Conway Mill Meeting - Maghaberry POWs

“It was to create a disturbance and to let us know that they have ammunition,’’ said an officer.

“It makes you wonder what else they’ve got but they’re pushing for segregation and I would put it down to that.’’

A Prison Service spokesman said that two rounds of ammunition were found in Bush House, which houses mainly loyalist prisoners.
He said: ‘‘The PSNI were notified and prisoners in both Bush and Roe houses have been confined to their cells while a full search took place.
“Arrangements for visits have been honoured.’’

The prison officer said that the incident would be used to strengthen calls to segregate prisoners.
“This was the way it happened in the Crumlin Road and the Maze.

“It’s only a matter of time before it’s introduced here, probably four to five months.’’

Republicans are to hold a public meeting on Sunday to discuss threats from the Loyalist Prisoners Reaction Force against prisoners in Maghaberry.
Republican Sinn Fein said last night: ‘‘The forced integration of republican and loyalist prisoners will see the death of a republican prisoner who are out-numbered on wings and landings by loyalists’’.

Last month, bullets and a hit-list – which named more than a dozen Catholic prisoners loyalist gunmen are plotting to kill – were sent to a governor at the jail.

Police believe the UDA posted the package to signal the start of a new terror campaign behind bars.


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From prisoners' rights supporters in London:

"(WE ASK) FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS OF THE 'SLOVAK 3' - DECLAN RAFFERTY,
MICHAEL McDONALD AND FINTAN O'FARRELL - TO CONTINUE
SENDING LETTERS, CARDS AND MESSAGES OF SOLIDARITY AND
SUPPORT TO THE THREE MEN IN BELMARSH PRISON.

" ALTHOUGH THE MEN ARE NOW SENTENCED, THEY REMAIN IMPRISONED IN LONDON'S 
BELMARSH PRISON - AWAITING DISPERSAL
TO OTHER TOP SECURITY ESTABLISHMENTS. IT IS ESTIMATED THEY
WILL REMAIN THERE FOR THE NEXT FEW WEEKS AT LEAST.

" THEY CAN BE CONTACTED AT -
HM PRISON BELMARSH
WESTERN WAY
THAMESMEAD
LONDON. SE28 - OEB."


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For a list of Irish Republican POWs visit us on the web at:
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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This week the public should have learned the contents of a highly 
contentious report by Nuala O'Loan, the police ombudsman for Northern 
Ireland, into the RUC's handling of the Nelson murder. Its publication 
has been temporarily delayed by the human rights group the Committee for 
the Administration of Justice (CAJ), which has won the right to a 
judicial review and is seeking full disclosure of documents relating to 
death threats made by loyalists against Nelson. The police ombudsman's 
office is rumoured to be 'perfectly at ease' with the thought of losing 
the case -- O'Loan favours full transparency, but has to abide by 
current rules on confidentiality. The police, however, are preparing 
themselves for yet another bruising at O'Loan's hands. The ombudsman is 
already at daggers drawn with former RUC chief constable, Sir Ronnie 
Flanagan, due to her savaging of the police over the handling of the 
Omagh bomb inquiry. 

Despite the publication delay, the Sunday Herald has been given a 
detailed briefing on the contents of the report by sources very close to 
O'Loan. When it is finally published -- probably within eight weeks -- 
it will make devastating reading for Sir Ronnie and the RUC. 'The 
questions the report primarily asks are: did the RUC deal appropriately 
with the threats against Rosemary Nelson and did they deal adequately 
with her requests for protection? The answer to both these questions is 
a resounding 'no',' the source said. 

The implication is clear: while the RUC may not have actively colluded 
in her death, they effectively allowed her to die at the hands of 
terrorists. They allowed her to become a target. Despite the unpalatable 
contents, the report will go some of the way towards helping the process 
of 'truth and reconciliation'. The hope is that the facts can build 
bridges to peace. 

Nelson's assassination struck a deep chord in the Ulster psyche and 
reverberated far beyond the province. Here was a woman who was murdered 
for no reason, it seemed, other than her religion and the fact that she 
was a lawyer. To nationalists, her death, with allegations that both 
police and terrorists threatened her life, rekindled the spectre of 
collusion between loyalists and the security forces. It caused 
international outrage, with the US congress condemning the RUC and the 
European parliament demanding an independent investigation into her 
death. 

Nelson's family and friends, most nationalists in Ireland, politicians 
both at home and abroad and some of the most prestigious human rights 
groups on earth believe that the killing of Rosemary Nelson is one 
murder the police in Northern Ireland simply don't care about. Many 
think the RUC are glad she's dead. That may be why calls for an 
independent inquiry into her death are still ringing in the ears of the 
government. It might also account for why so many eyewitnesses to her 
death report police attending the murder scene laughing openly about her 
death. One Scots squaddie was even supposed to have told 'jokes' to 
drivers at a checkpoint that 'Rosie got done for drunk-driving because 
she was legless'. 

So why would the RUC deliberately fail to protect a lawyer from 
assassination? To the police, Nelson's most vile act was winning the 
appeal of Colin Duffy, a prominent republican from Lurgan, who had been 
jailed for the murder of a soldier. She also represented Duffy when he 
was charged with the murder of two RUC constables. Nelson was the lawyer 
for the family of Robert Hamill, a young Catholic who was beaten to 
death by a loyalist mob while RUC officers allegedly watched from the 
comfort of a nearby Land Rover. On top of that, Nelson also represented 
the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coaltion, a nationalist group set up to 
prevent Drumcree Orangemen marching through Catholic areas. 
Nelson became the victim of some terrible smears. I've heard her openly 
referred to as an IRA intelligence officer, there have been rumours put 
about that the happily married lawyer was having an affair with a 
leading IRA man, and there were even claims that a facial disfigurement 
she had was the result of a teenage bomb plot that backfired. All lies. 
As Jane Winter, the director of British Irish Rights Watch (BIRW), said: 
'The RUC seemed incapable of distinguishing between Rosemary and her 
clients. It seems they thought that just because she represented people 
in the IRA that she was in the IRA. It was an affront to the law and 
democracy.' 

When Nelson's clients were interrogated by the RUC, they would tell her 
that police made death threats against her during the interviews. A 
common threat was: 'We'll tell Billy Wright your solicitor's address.' 
Wright was perhaps the most dangerous loyalist terrorist in Ulster until 
his death. 

The Pat Finucane Centre, an Irish human rights organisation, describes 
the role of the RUC in Nelson's death this way: 'The trail which led to 
her eventual death can be traced back to the demonisation of Rosemary by 
the RUC. Once the finger was pointed, the deed was as good as done. 
Though aware that the finger had been pointed, those with the 
responsibility to provide protection failed to do so. If RUC detectives 
believed her to be a 'provo solicitor' that was good enough. Within 
extreme loyalism there was little need for further encouragement. Those 
members of the RUC who pointed the finger of guilt by association 
colluded in the process that eventually led to her death.' 

The UN's special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, 
Param Cumaraswamy, said in 1997, while Nelson was suffering this 
intimidation, that 'the RUC had engaged in activities which constitute 
intimidation, hindrance or improper interference' with lawyers. The 
intimidation, he said, was 'consistent and systematic'. He later wrote 
privately to the government expressing concern for Nelson's safety. In 
July that year, Nelson was physically assaulted by RUC riot squad 
officers on the Garvaghy Road. Before her death, she told the Lawyers' 
Committee for Human Rights: 'One of them grabbed me by the arm and took 
me right into the circle of riot shields and said, 'Rosemary, you Fenian 
f***er,' and they threw me about a bit. I said, 'Can I have your number 
please?' Somebody else said, 'F*** off' ... You couldn't see any numbers 
and they were wearing balaclavas. I can't recall ever being so 
frightened in my life.' 

Six weeks before her death, she issued a writ against the RUC for that 
assault. In June 1998, she received a handwritten death threat . Nelson 
did not take the harassment and intimidation lying down. She allowed the 
American Lawyers' Alliance for Justice to make a complaint on her behalf 
to the Independent Commission on Police Complaints, and she testified 
before the House Subcommittee on International Human Rights in 
Washington about the campaign against her by the RUC. 
According to Jane Winter of BIRW, the animosity against Nelson went 
right to the very top of the RUC. When BIRW sent a report to Sir Ronnie 
about the intimidation of Nelson, asking him to intervene to end the 
harassment, he dismissed it with the reply: 'I suppose by now I really 
should have learned to expect, and not be surprised by, the total 
absence of balance in reports produced by your organisation.' 

Three weeks before Nelson died, the Lawyers' Alliance again met with Sir 
Ronnie expressing concerns for her safety. No action was taken. Days 
before she died, she received two more death threats by telephone. 
Not only did the RUC intimidate Nelson, it also blatantly refused to 
offer her any protection from loyalist death threats. In August 1998, 
the CAJ wrote to Northern Ireland minister Adam Ingram sending him a 
copy of the handwritten death threat that Nelson had received. They also 
enclosed a loyalist paramilitary pamphlet which referred to Nelson as 
'Lurgan solicitor and former bomber' and quoted her address and phone 
number. Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair's chief of staff, was informed and 
said her safety was a matter of concern. 

Ingram forwarded details of the threats to Sir Ronnie and assured the 
CAJ that the RUC 'would obviously, given the nature of the material, 
assess the security risk against Ms Nelson'. Despite government 
insistence that Sir Ronnie was shown the death threat, an RUC press 
release claimed: 'The RUC itself did not have any information to 
substantiate a threat to Mrs Nelson's life before her murder.' Sir 
Ronnie also claimed he had no knowledge of a request made to the Prime 
Minister's office about her protection. In the minutes of the Police 
Authority of Northern Ireland meeting of April 1999, it's recorded that 
'the chief constable advised that ... the RUC did not have information 
to suggest that she was the subject of a specific terrorist threat'. 

Ingram's office also said that Nelson should apply for the Key Persons 
Protection Scheme (KPPS) -- designed to safeguard anyone whose death 
would 'seriously undermine the democratic framework of government' -- 
and that she should request a personal protection weapon. Nelson was 
never placed on the KPPS and as a mother of young children had no desire 
to have a gun in her home. The day she was murdered the then Ulster 
secretary Mo Mowlam said police had conducted a security assessment of 
the lawyer. Jane Winter later requested a copy of the assessment, but it 
was never passed to her. 'I remain to be convinced that any assessment 
was in fact carried out,' said Winter. 'Even if it was, it is now, 
sadly, clear that it was completely wrong in its conclusions.' 

The RUC seemed convinced that Nelson was something more sinister than 
simply a clever defence lawyer. During a meeting in 1998 between Param 
Cumaraswamy and senior RUC officers including Sir Ronnie, the police 
claimed that some solicitors in Ulster 'may in fact be working for the 
paramilitaries'. Sir Ronnie denies making this allegation. All this went 
a long way to providing good foundation for Cumara swamy's claim to the 
UN Commission that there was 'a complete indifference shown by the RUC' 
to Nelson's safety. 

Some 10 days after Nelson was murdered, two RUC officers called at the 
CAJ offices asking for the originals of the threatening letter and the 
pamphlet which described her as a bomber so they could have them 
forensically tested. Winter says: 'Had they taken her situation 
seriously, they would have taken these measures when the threats were 
first delivered. It might have saved her life.' 

In 1997, when the Independent Commission for Police Complaints ordered 
an investigation into allegations that RUC officers had threatened and 
abused Nelson, the police refused to accept the complaints as bona fide. 
ICPC investigator Geralyn McNally said RUC officers she spoke to were 
hostile, evasive and unwilling to co-operate with the investigation. 
ICPC chairman Paul Donnelly said officers accused of threatening Nelson 
declined to answer questions. 

To Winter, the RUC are almost as much to blame for the lawyer's death as 
the killers. 'If RUC officers were prepared to make threatening remarks 
to Ro semary Nelson,' she said, 'they must have been even more ready to 
say such things to loyalists. These constant attempts to associate her 
with her clients' alleged crimes and causes undoubtedly put her life at 
risk. There is no doubt in the minds of the human rights groups that 
took up her complaints while Rosemary Nelson was alive that such abuse 
helped to create the climate which brought about her death.' 

www.serve.com/pfc/rosemary/rosemary.html 
www.lchr.org/l2l/nelson1299.htm

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WRITE TO THE POWs
For an up-to-date list of Irish Republican political prisoners please 
visit: www.irishfreedomcommittee,net
************************************************
I WANT TO HELP!
Sounds like you? E-mail us for further information at 
Saoirse@irishfreedomcommittee.net -- Subject: Membership. 

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The announcement below is from Marian Price in Belfast.

The Irish Freedom Committee ®
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net
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" On 5th of May 2002, the 22nd Anniversary of the death on hunger strike 
of Vol. Bobby Sands, (we) will be holding a mass picket at 
Maghaberry Gaol. This is the culmination of a rolling programme of 
pickets and protests we have been holding across the Six Counties in the 
past months. Our aim is to highlight the plight of the Republican 
prisoners held there and to demand the restoration of Political Status, 
so dearly won in 1981. As a first step, and in light of recent attacks 
and death threats from Loyalists, we call for the immediate Segregation 
of Republican prisoners to a wing of their own. We call on all 
Republicans to support these men and their just demands." 

Marian Price

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(The following report is reprinted courtesy of "Stormont Watch", 
http://www.voy.com/70381/)
--------------------------

HMP MAGHABERRY - Update
04 30 02

1. Actual assaults and death threats – source – Loyalist Prisoners 
Reaction Force

2. It is believed there are 3 sentenced anti-Stormont PoWs

3. There are 13 alleged “dissidents” on remand, awaiting trial

4. The chances of a unified campaign outside the prison are very slim, 
as some groups, including the IA-PL and, according to the Andy’town 
News, the RIRA, will have no truck with those who are prepared to 
administer the new colonial arrangements set up through the GFA. The 
IA-PL, for example, argue that the Brits, police, screws and Stormont 
politicians now have a common paymaster, and all are part and parcel of 
the very system that the PoWs have opposed. All the aforementioned, it 
is argued, have a common and vested interest in attempting to 
criminalise all anti-Stormont prisoners, in a collective bid to 
legitimize the “new” colonial status quo. It looks as if each group, as 
they say, will be doing their own thing to support the PoW cause.

5. The current Brit policy of enforced integration, in spite of the fact 
that this endangers the lives of isolated and greatly outnumbered 
republicans, is a willful strategy to wear down, not only the prisoners 
themselves, but their families, friends and supporters on the outside. 
“Mixing” prisoners, who are sworn enemies on the outside, is by no means 
accidentally or unwittingly implemented. Such a policy would be viewed 
as insane if advocated in any other conflict region in the world. It is 
part and parcel of the attempt to criminalise republicans, while 
Britain, internationally, tries to promote an entirely false impression 
that all prisoners are being treated equally. Segregation must be fought 
for so that they are treated more humanely. The international community 
must be told, Britain, the occupying power, has a duty of care to all 
prisoners, and that their physical safety and psychological well-being 
is supposedly guaranteed by transnational and global conventions. 
Segregation is merely the minimum measure that the London government 
must implement IMMEDIATELY; if lives are not to be lost due to organized 
reactionary elements within the confines of HMP Maghaberry.

6. We, on the outside should intensify our efforts in spite of the 
diversity of political viewpoints. It is emerging that the PoWs have a 
number of specific demands, on which to build campaigns. These are, as 
far as we are led to believe:

i) immediate segregation ( must be the top priority )
ii) group representation 
iii) a right to elect a spokesperson for each republican group
iv) the provision of a separate wing

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