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| IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST www.irishfreedomcommittee.net -----------------------------
Subject: Republican Statement: "No More Lies" In a strongly worded statement released to the press today, a group of Irish republicans blasted the “tyranny in our midst”, and condemned the atmosphere of terror and censorship waged on republicans by former comrades now intent on enforcing a British Treaty in Ireland. The statement, signed by 21 veteran Irish republicans from Belfast, Derry, Down, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Monaghan and Dublin, denounced the current Stormont Treaty leadership as “shameful and contrary to the principles of Republicanism”. The document called for an end to the code of silence enforced by the Treaty leadership, and the pervading threat of being “disappeared” for continuing to express republican beliefs. The statement re-affirmed “the honor and integrity of the cause which sustained our beliefs”. It further stated that republicanism “… does not belong to a clique – it is owned by all the people who believe and participate in it” and that the “true spirit of republicanism is not a cult of personality. “ The statement is printed in the Letters section of today’s Irish News, and is reprinted in full below the following a story from the same paper. The Irish Freedom Committee® ************************************************ For further reading see: GFA ENFORCERS ************************************************ Irish News 'Tyrannous' Sinn Fein blasted by republicans By Sharon O’Neill Chief Reporter DISAFFECTED republicans opposed to the Sinn Fein leadership have called for a "congress" to "stand against the tyranny in our midst". In today’s Irish News the 20-strong group, which reflects a broad range of political opinion, round on mainstream republicanism. A strongly-worded letter, clearly directed at Sinn Fein and the IRA, was penned after a series of recent meetings in Belfast. “Today the ideals we fought for are never spoken of, and those who do remember them silenced. Our beliefs were traded for the realities of the current process, a process that suits the interests of political parties and not the common peoples,” the letter says. “These realities include a criminalisation of the people’s armies; corruption that fills the coffers of the elite and expands their empire, rather than advances the Republic; children beaten, shot, tortured; comrades isolated, spat upon, silenced, imprisoned, disappeared. “No more...We stand against the tyranny in our midst. It is time to come together, to convene a congress of republicans.” The letter is signed by former Sinn Fein members and other ex-mainstream republicans including some whose parties are aligned to groups linked to armed splinter organisations. Good Friday Agreement supporter John Kelly recently resigned as a senior Sinn Fein politician branding the party a “control dictatorship”. “I am in support of the sentiments of the statement. There are different voices who can come together and pick up an agenda of freedom of speech, freedom of thought,” he said. “As a life-long republican I don’t feel other republicans should be policing the peace process.” Former IRA prisoner Anthony McIntyre said: “I feel all republicans should have a right to express their opinion. “People have a right to speak, Sinn Fein should not be able to suppress them and that the IRA should not be able to abduct, kidnap or torture them. “I am pro-peace, the problem with the Sinn Fein leadership is they are not, they are pro-process. They are involved in the peace process and if that process is to be violent, they are violent.” Ex-IRA hunger striker Dolours Price said she was “entirely frustrated by the nature of the current process and the way Sinn Fein have been conducting themselves”. “Their methods of suppressing opinions like John Kelly’s is becoming quite frightening,” she added. However, a Sinn Fein spokesman said the party is “happy to engage with the breadth of republican opinion and have done so”. “As far as I am aware this group has not contacted Sinn Fein. What they do is entirely a matter for themselves. Sinn Fein have a strategy to achieve peace and deliver a united Ireland and that remains our focus,” he said. Irish News Letters Republicans must make a stand for the ideals of their ancestors THROUGHOUT the month of May, a group of republicans met in Belfast. The purpose of the meetings was to facilitate all republican ideas, defend the right of people to pursue them free from fear and ensure that the freedom to think is safeguarded. The republicans surveyed the options available to those intent on promoting republicanism. As a result the following points were agreed: Within the Republican family there should be room for the open airing of our disagreements; we cannot move forward until we are able to do so. We believe the criminalisation of republicanism in the vacuum of the current process is shameful and contrary to the principles of republicanism. It is our duty to stand up against it and speak out. It is time for republicans to reclaim the honour and integrity of the cause which sustained our beliefs; to stand together against the tyranny of abuse and intimidation employed against anyone who has the courage and fortitude to speak out against the wrongs and injustices they see, or suffer themselves. Republicans should stand with each other in repossessing the ownership of their struggle. It does not belong to a clique – it is owned by all the people who believe and participate in it. Republicanism is not about corruption, intimidation, or isolation from one another. It is not self-serving. It is about the Republic, and that Republic is about people. The true spirit of republicanism is not a cult of personality. It is those who have always been the hidden backbone – once upon a time the volunteer, now the taxi driver... the door man, the day labourer, the support staff in hospitals, waitresses, school workers, the unemployed, marginalised, forgotten... We have all stood together in times of hardship and crisis. Increasingly we find ourselves standing apart from one another... our destinies loosened from our grip and out of our control. We once believed we would deliver to each other the Republic in which we would all be equal – Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter. Today the ideals we fought for are never spoken of – and those who remember them are silenced. Our beliefs were traded for the realities of the current process, a process that suits the interests of political parties and not the common people. These realities include a criminalisation of the people’s armies; corruption that fills the coffers of the elite and expands their empires, rather than advances the Republic; children being beaten, shot and tortured; and comrades isolated, spat upon, silenced, imprisoned and disappeared. No more. We stand against the tyranny in our midst. It is time to come together, to convene a congress of republicans, to determine where we are going, to support each other no matter what our differences are, to reclaim our heritage, integrity and honour, to speak out against injustice, corruption and criminality and to stand up for the Republic. Stand with us. Make your voice heard.
MARTIN CUNNINGHAM, South Down MICKEY DONNELLY, Derry PADDY FOX, Tyrone TOMMY GORMAN, Belfast BRENDAN HUGHES, Belfast JOHN KELLY, South Derry ANTHONY McINTYRE, Belfast TOMMY McKEARNEY, Monaghan TONY McPHILIPS, Fermanagh CLARE MURPHY, Belfast KEVIN McQUILLAN, Belfast FRANCIE and GERALDINE PERRY, Downpatrick MARY ELLEN O’DOHERTY, Derry FIONBARRA O’DOCHARTAIGH, Derry NOEL O’REILLY, Belfast LIAM O RUAIRC, Belfast DOLOURS PRICE, Dublin MARIAN PRICE, Belfast BRENDAN SHANNON, Belfast ROISIN Ni SHEANAIN, Belfast CARRIE TWOMEY, Belfast ************************************************ For further reading see: GFA ENFORCERS ************************************************ © The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates |
| IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST www.irishfreedomcommittee.net -----------------------------
Subject: Provos question four top members - ANOTHER BRIT
AGENT Belfast Telegraph
No one was in any doubt police had been tipped off, but whoever the guilty party was, they avoided detection at the time.
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| IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST www.irishfreedomcommittee.net -----------------------------
Subject: British government to overturn 'Real IRA' ruling
UTV ``The British government`s clear that the Real IRA should be a proscribed organisation.`` Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman David Lidington last night
blamed contradictions between two pieces of Labour legislation for having led to ``this He said: ``The Terrorism Act 2000 bans the IRA and makes no separate
mention of its splinter groups. The Northern Ireland Sentences Act 1998 lists ``The judge has ruled that, because the 1998 Act in effect recognises
RIRA as a distinct organisation, it cannot be covered by the generic reference to the Mr Lidington said that back in 2000 his party had warned of the dangers of having two separate lists of banned organisations. ``Labour said our fears were groundless. Now, thanks to the British government`s complacency, we have a situation where people, including current prisoners, convicted of RIRA or CIRA membership could challenge their convictions and seek compensation.`` Politicians in Northern Ireland were outraged at the situation. East Belfast MP Peter Robinson, deputy leader of the Democratic
Unionist Party, said the British government had to act to clear up the mess
which had Mr Justice Girvan`s ruling had ``highlighted a major flaw in the present anti- terrorism legislation. It had allowed those believed to be involved with the terrorist group to evade conviction on what was ``clearly a technicality``, said Mr Robinson. The British government`s ``reckless approach`` when the situation had been challenged during the passage of the Terrorism Act in 2000 had led to the present situation, he said. In Dublin Fine Gael Justice spokesman Jim O`Keeffe said the ruling in Belfast could have ``serious implications`` in the southern jurisdiction. In the Republic the Real IRA as a specific group was not proscribed,
but the Special Criminal Court and Court of Criminal Appeal had ruled the lack of However the Supreme Court had not ruled on the issue, he added. ``I will be raising this matter with the minister next week. I would
like to see a clear statement from the government on the implications on this
judgment for ``In the event that the government cannot give such an assurance, I
would urge them to introduce the necessary legislation as a matter of urgency.`` BBC BBC News The Attorney General has referred a ruling that the Real IRA is not a proscribed organisation to the Court of Appeal. |
| IRISH
FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST http://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net ----------------------------- Subject: Hunger strike threat at Maghaberry jail Date: May 27, 2004
UTV News One prisoner Barry Toman who was released today after completing a six year jail term for explosive offensives read a statement claiming they were being ill treated by prison staff. Marian Price of the Irish Republican Prisoners Association said the inmates
had been threatening to start the hunger strike next Tuesday but had now
been persuaded to pospone the action to allow supporters time to negotiate
with the Prison Service. IFC NewsList May 15 2004: |
| IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST http://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net ----------------------------- Subject: Historic Belfast Court ruling: Real IRA 'not proscribed group' Date: May 26, 2004
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| IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST www.irishfreedomcommittee.net ----------------------------- Subject: Portlaoise Prison And Compassionate Parole - Anthony McIntyre Date: Friday, May 21, 2004 http://lark.phoblacht.net/latestnews.html The Blanket Portlaoise Prison And Compassionate Parole Anthony McIntyre • 20 May 2004 When they get out of their beds tomorrow morning, they will be confined to cells and denied the ability to associate with each other, their visits will be reduced to one a month, they will experience curtailment of mail and will be denied all phone calls. Their food will be handed to them in the same cells in which they perform all other bodily functions. There are no in-cell sanitation facilities. Modern Ireland invites its prison population to squat in a corner of a dank cell in order to relieve the bowels. ----------- Portlaoise Prison is a foreboding place. The town which provides the jail with its name goes about its daily business seemingly nonchalant about its dirty little secret. Whatever the Celtic Tiger has brought to Ireland, the prison population has seen little of it. Looking at some of Dublin’s modern architecture, its millennium bridge, the shiny (albeit ridiculous) Spire, or even the new motorway which shortens the journey time from Belfast to Dublin considerably, the one thought they all manage to prompt is how an aesthetically challenged eye sore like Portlaoise Prison manages to stand in a society which has grown fond of proclaiming its modernity. Its design is inscribed with all the dull imagination of a mind more used to the Satanic mills of Lancashire than Le Corbusier's Switzerland or France. As a relic of how things used to be in the olden days, it might serve some purpose, but as a modern institution purpose-built to house humanely those the state has pronounced no longer at liberty, it is an incongruous absurdity. Over the past thirty years, Portlaoise Prison has been the site of hunger strikes, protests, jail breaks and violence perpetrated by prison staff. It has also seen one prisoner shot dead. And a senior member of prison staff met a similar fate although not in the prison itself but undoubtedly in response to the oppression that went on within its walls. It was a place apart, where those who 'have no rights' - as Paddy Cooney while a serving justice minister framed it - were incarcerated. Long before the conflict that produced the present spate of political prisoners the jail was notorious for the misery it produced behind its walls, on one occasion in the 1940s outraging a public when it saw the conditions republicans were forced to endure at the hands of their former comrades. Every so often periods of quietude break out only to be punctuated by more of what the jail is better known for. Tonight, buried out of public view republican prisoners ‘enjoy’ their last night of normal prison privileges. When they get out of their beds tomorrow morning, they will be confined to cells and denied the ability to associate with each other, their visits will be reduced to one a month, they will experience curtailment of mail and will be denied all phone calls. Their food will be handed to them in the same cells in which they perform all other bodily functions. There are no in-cell sanitation facilities. Modern Ireland invites its prison population to squat in a corner of a dank cell in order to relieve the bowels. Perhaps Reginald Maudling, when he called for a large Scotch and muttered ‘what a bloody awful country’, was more discerning that any of us imagined. The heavy hand of prison discipline has settled on the republican prisoners of Portlaoise because they, in time-honoured fashion, have sought to defend the conditions that they and their predecessors have helped attain over the decades at great cost. Because the prisoners have decided to engage in passive resistance to protest their abhorrence at the manner in which the Dublin Government is abusing the practice of compassionate parole, the same government has decided to lock horns with them in a battle of wills. A body politic steeped in corruption seems to think that one last dark corner where it can set up a shebeen for the licentious exercise of unaccountable power is the prison. It seems incredible that the old adage of ‘let well be alone’ cannot manage to percolate down into the decision making bureaucracy that runs Southern prisons. For the past couple of years, republican prisoners availed of the opportunity for compassionate parole when close family members were gravely ill. Things did not always run smoothly. For reasons known only to it, the administration has from time to time subverted the understanding between itself and prisoners. In 2001 Ballymurphy republican Danny McAllister had to hunger strike over being denied the ability to visit seriously ill family members. Later in the year when Damien Lawless - who was a matter of mere weeks from his final release - was refused parole to visit his child who had been struck down by meningitis, his comrades staged a protest within the jail. The authorities with typical vindictive and violent gusto sent in the riot squad. Many prisoners were beaten, and some were rendered unconscious. Families of the men inside took up the baton and after a series of representations the government said that it would revert back to the normal procedures for compassionate parole. Why it ever violated them to begin with was never explained. But because of the tendency for the government to breach its understandings the prisoners opted to push for something more codified. After much procrastination, the government responded in early 2003. It reaffirmed the conditions that had previously prevailed. Things settled down. But not for long. When Michael McKevitt applied for compassionate parole to visit his mother who was in her 80s and very frail, he was refused. The government stated that his mother was not gravely ill although her condition was such that she could not visit the prison and as her hearing had deteriorated, her son could no longer phone her. When she suffered a major stroke in April Michael McKevitt received parole. He was out on the strength of his own republican bond for a period of two days and honoured all conditions. On his return to prison he was told that if his mother’s situation were to deteriorate or if she were to die, his release would be a mere formality. Three weeks later his mother did die. The undertaker contacted the prison providing it with the details of the funeral arrangements. Despite pledges that the parole would be granted without delay, the prison service dallied. Growing alarmed at the lack of movement throughout the day the imprisoned republican's wife Bernadette pressed for a response to his parole application. She stated that she met with disdain and insensitivity. Eventually, the prison service offered parole on the following conditions. Michael McKevitt would be taken under armed escort to Dundalk Garda station where he would be placed in the custody of armed police and taken to pay his respects before being returned to prison. The same procedure would apply to parole on the day of the funeral. It was intimated to the family that if Michael McKevitt were to attend the wake house, it would be searched in advance of his arrival. Not surprisingly he refused to take parole. In response to the arbitrary nature of decision making the prisoners in Portlaoise embarked upon a campaign of passive protest. They refused to lock up at night. Initially the prison staff responded by locking the grills at the end of the wing. Later they came in and lifted the prisoners and carried them to their cells. On Monday the 18th senior prison managemant approached the prisoners and said it wanted the protest brought to a satisfactory conclusion and to that end would like to meet with the relatives of the prisoners. The imprisoned men first secured an undertaking from the administration that it was serious about resolving the conflict before agreeing that their families would trek off to a meeting with government officials. As a sign of their goodwill the prisoners decided to suspend their protest and to create a rancour-free backdrop against which talks could take place. When the relatives met with prison officials on Tuesday they were told bluntly to go back and tell the prisoners to end their protest or the prison staff would escalate their punitive response. Aghast at such obstinacy, the republican prisoners resumed their passive protest. June Carroll whose son is in the prison is now deeply worried about what lies ahead. She complained bitterly about the way the administration had left prisoners with no option but to protest to protect hard won gains such as the highly sensitive right to compassionate parole. She said of the brazen insensitivity displayed in relation Michael McKevitt that it was an affront to human dignity: ‘how are grief stricken relatives supposed to explain something like that to their children waiting on their father to join them for the funeral of their grandmother?’ What possible reason other than vindictiveness or gross incompetence does the Dublin government have for failing to inject predictability and consistency into the procedures governing the matter of compassionate parole? What happened in the three weeks between Michael McKevitt being granted parole, unaccompanied, and the death of his mother that would justify the government insisting that he could only attend the funeral under armed guard? Such whimsical and arbitrary decision making is not only unjust but is certain to impregnate relations between prisoners and prison management with tension. Prison is not a stress free environment at the best of times. Why make it more volatile through decisions that enhance neither security, morale nor staff-prisoner relations, and seem only to massage the self-importance of those who think they do not really have power if it is not accompanied by an ability to abuse it? ************************************************ © The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates |
| IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST www.irishfreedomcommittee.net ----------------------------- Subject: IRISH REPUBLICAN PRISONERS BIRTHDAYS - JUNE Date: Friday, May 21, 2004 Please send a birthday card to an Irish Republican POW this weekend. Following are birthdays for the month of JUNE: +++++++++++++++ ALAN RYAN - JUNE 3, 1980 - Serving 7 years at Portlaoise Prison ALAN RYAN PORTLAOISE PRISON - (E-4) Portlaoise, Co. Laois, Ireland +++++++++++++++ GEAROID MACUAID - JUNE 11, 1963 - Serving 11 Years at Maghaberry Prison GEAROID MACUAID MAGHABERRY PRISON Upper Ballinderry Road, Lisburn, Co. Antrim, BT 28, North of Ireland +++++++++++++++ DERECK BRADY - JUNE 19, 1964 - Held on Remand at Portlaoise Prison DERECK BRADY - (E-4) PORTLAOISE PRISON Portlaoise, Co. Laois, Ireland +++++++++++++++ The Irish Freedom Committee® ************************************************ © The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates |
| IRISH
FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST www.irishfreedomcommittee.net ----------------------------- Subject: HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES CONTINUING AT MAGHABERRY Date: Thursday, May 20, 2004 The Irish Freedom Committee has received yet more disturbing news regarding conditions for Irish Republican POWs at Maghaberry. As of today a male Republican prisoner is facing disciplinary charges and possibly up to a week punishment on the “boards” because he bathed himself in the common kitchen sink after being refused a shower. The prisoner had just returned from taking exercise during his only cell leave for the day of ONE HOUR, and asked to take a shower before being locked up once again. He was refused and told to “apply for a shower in the morning”. As the prisoner was covered in sweat and the cell was cold he decided on principle to take matters into his own hands, and washed himself in the cold water kitchen sink. As a result he is now facing disciplinary charges and may be faced with up to a week solitary confinement with only a mattress and not even a pillow. Irish Republican Prisoners at Maghaberry are being held locked in their cells for up to TWENTY-THREE HOURS A DAY. On “good days” they are held for TWENTY-TWO HOURS. They have no classes, no education, all of that has been revoked under the new segregation plan. They are totally denied free association and can only leave their cells two at a time. Showers are restricted; they are forced to wash up in their tiny cell sinks where they must also wash their food plates and utensils. They are being made to eat alone in their cells and are being treated like caged animals. Prison authorities are saying that there is not enough money to pay guards to allow prisoners free association or more than ONE HOUR at a time cell leave, or in this case a shower after exercise. Why after a recent £7 million pounds upgrade to the prison can a man be told that he cannot be allowed to take a shower, after his only one hour break from his cell for the day, because there is “not enough security”?? Regardless of political affiliation this treatment is deliberately cruel and inhuman and can only be seen as torture to the men and to their families at home, who must endure incident after incident of this nature day after day. Please continue to WRITE TO THE NORTHERN IRELAND OFFICE AND THE PRISONS SERVICE regarding ongoing Human Rights abuses at Maghaberry – please see the link below. Go raibh maith agat; The Irish Freedom Committee® ************************************************ Irish Freedom Committee POW Dept.ACTION REQUEST IFC NewsList May 15 2004: Maghaberry prison guards abuse, assault Irish Republican POWs – ACTION REQUEST ************************************************ © The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates |
| IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST www.irishfreedomcommittee.net ----------------------------- Subject: Could US/UK Extradition Treaty target U.S. founders? Date: May 19, 2004 WorldNetDaily May 19, 2004 Could treaty with UK target U.S. founders? ------- Critics say terrorism agreement would suspend constitutional rights with no statute of limitations ------- Critics say a new anti-terrorism treaty between the U.S. and the United Kingdom could conceivably result in Great Britain seizing the assets of dead enemies – like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. The treaty, forwarded April 19, 2004, by President Bush to the U.S. Senate for ratification, has generated little media attention and little controversy – probably due to the fact that it is an agreement between coalition partners in the war on terrorism. But some who have examined the small print see big problems with the new extradition treaty – saying it abrogates the constitutional rights of Americans accused of wrongdoing by Great Britain and threatens the estates of long-dead antagonists of the crown. Drafted by Attorney General John Ashcroft, the treaty is designed for "combatting terrorism, organized crime, money laundering, and other offenses." But William Hughes, author of "Saying 'No' to the War Party," charges that under the treaty as written, the British could demand recompense from anyone in the U.S. who stood up to British law – living or dead. Hughes contends the property of the descendants of the founding fathers could theoretically be seized. "Such items and assets may be surrendered even if the extradition cannot be carried out due to the death ... of the person sought," states Article 16 of the treaty. Another critic, Professor Francis A. Boyle, a professor of international law at the University of Illinois, claims the treaty will "eliminate the political offense exception to any offense allegedly involving violence or weapons; transfer responsibility for determining whether the extradition request is politically motivated from the courts to the executive branch; allow for extradition even if no U.S. federal law is violated; and allow for provisional arrest and detention for 60 days upon request by the UK." Hughes states: "If all of this sounds like the Brits could wake up one morning and just arbitrarily charge an American citizen with a so-called 'extraditable offense,' on the flimsiest kind of evidence, you're right to think so. It also means that the accused, a citizen of this republic, would get no full judicial review of his extradition process by a federal judge, a federal appellant court, or the U.S. Supreme Court." He says once the treaty is approved by the Senate and signed by the president, "an American, will be at the mercy of an alien-based foreign government" with none of the usual constitutional protections. The treaty is currently sitting before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, chaired by Sen. Richard G. Lugar, R-Ind. Irish-American activists have expressed their concerns that the treaty might be designed to target activists working for Irish independence. In a letter from a coalition of Irish-American organizations earlier this month, the critics wrote: "Under the new treaty, as drafted, an extradition request from the British government could be received on one day and a target, regardless of citizenship or the merits of the extradition request, could be forcibly placed on a plane and deposited with the British security forces the very next day. These are the same security forces that presently stand accused of orchestrating collusive murders of its citizens in Northern Ireland for many years and who have successfully stonewalled calls for independent investigations of such misdeeds." The current treaty governing extradition between the U.S. and Britain was signed in London on June 8, 1972. It was amended by the supplementary treaty signed in Washington on June 25, 1985. ''There's no big Irish issue in the (presidential) campaign, but if this treaty goes through there will be," says Boyle. According to Boyle, the proposed treaty not only does away with the concept of a political-exception clause, it also removes the possibility of judicial review in extradition cases while exposing individuals, including U.S. citizens, to the threat of extradition to the United Kingdom based on "totally unfounded allegations." People, he told the Irish News, could be prosecuted for simply helping people involved in the situation in Northern Ireland. Boyle has written Lugar instructing him that had the treaty been in force back in the 1770s, America's founding fathers, including Washington and Jefferson, would have been "extradited to the British Crown for prosecution of their very revolutionary activities that founded the United States of America itself." But given that there is no statute of limitations and that asset forfeiture is a part of the treaty – even for dead targets – some have only half-jokingly suggested the estates of the founders could be endangered. The Departments of Justice and State argue in their correspondence with Lugar that provisions of the treaty are similar to those with Spain, South Africa, Poland, France and Lithuania.
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| IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST www.irishfreedomcommittee.net ----------------------------- Subject: Maghaberry prison guards abuse, assault Irish Republican POWs – ACTION REQUEST Date: Friday, May 14, 2004 In an statement today from Belfast, prisoners' rights spokespersons Marian Price and Martin Mulholland decried yesterday's invasive assault on Irish republican prisoners at Maghaberry Gaol, Co,. Antrim. (see below). Prisoners were locked in their cells all morning and denied breakfast and lunch, and when they were finally let out of their cells in the afternoon they were verbally and physically assaulted by the prison guards and called "REPUBLICAN SCUM". The prison "ninja" screws then invaded the men's cells with dogs and left several filthy and covered with dog hair. In one very serious incident a male prisoner was so brutally strip-searched and verbally taunted that he will seek assistance at the Belfast rape crisis center. This is a particularly disgusting incident and shows the level of depravity to which the prison administration and its screw thugs will go to wield their brute force and dehumanize their captives. This most recent assault, compounded with many other recent attempts by the administration to agitate the republican prisoners such as the withholding of personal mail, the abuse of family members at visits, and the ongoing daily efforts to dehumanize and abuse the republican prisoners; can only be seen in light of the recent passing of a bill in Parliament calling for the transfer of "unruly" or "troublesome" prisoners to prisons in England and Wales. The Irish Freedom Committee calls on all of our Members and supporters to please send a letter to the Northern Ireland Office and the Prisons Service to protest the deplorable treatment of Irish Republican prisoners at Maghaberry Gaol. As so succinctly pointed out in the statement referenced above, on a day when Hugh Orde has come out and identified sectarianism as a hate crime, all right-thinking people should call on his offices to take action against the Prisons Service for the outrageous show of sectarian abuse that the prisoners have had to endure at Maghaberry yesterday. Sample letter and contact info follows below or get an INSTANT EMAIL form here: http://members.freespeech.org/irishpows/bb3/POWs/actionrequest_maghab.htm . The Irish Freedom Committee® ************************************************ From a statement released yesterday by prisoners rights spokespersons Marian Price and Martin Mulholland in Belfast: “Today in Maghaberry gaol prison officers and the Northern Ireland Prison Service were involved in their very own form of abusing POW’s. The abuse started when the prison officers refused to unlock the men this morning. The men were also denied breakfast and lunch and were kept in their cells until well into the afternoon. At this stage the men were unlocked for recreation. While the men were in the recreation area a heavily protected search team was sent onto the wing and proceeded to verbally abuse the POW’s. The men were instructed by their Officer Commanding to co-operate with the searches as it was felt that the Search team on duty were engaged in an effort to antagonise the men and provoke some sort of confrontation. A number of cells were wrecked by the search team and covered in dirt and dog hairs. Many of the republicans were subjected to inhuman and degrading strip searches with one POW describing the search as a form of rape and definite sexual assault. This prisoner intends to contact the rape crisis centre in Belfast for counselling so extreme was his strip search. Immediately prior to searching this man, three members of the search team insulted him and offered to fight him saying that he thought he was a “hard man” and that they would show him how “hard he really was”. All the prisoners had their Human Right violated today by the prison service with even the basic rights to association and food being denied for a long period of the day. On a day when Hugh Orde has labelled sectarianism as a hate crime (we) fully expect him to take action against the NIPS for the sustained tirade of sectarian abuse that the prisoners have had to endure. In one instance when a prisoner returned to the recreation area a prison officer had spelt out REPUBLICAN SCUM on the scrabble board. This area is covered by 3 surveillance cameras; it will not surprise any republican if the tapes suddenly disappear. This bully boy attitude of the prison officers toward the republican prisoners is a constant feature of prison life for POW’s in Maghaberry Gaol but the criminal behaviour of the prison officers involved in sexual assault and hate crime today is an escalation in this policy. Republicans will not tolerate the brutalisation of our prisoners or their families and we call on human rights agencies and political parties to ensure that they are not as quiet in the future as the have been in the past. We also ask the Irish Government to take the British to task over their treatment of Irish Citizens. The British authorities in Ireland are expecting to get away with the same behaviour as they and their allies get away with in Iraq, we must all ensure that this doesn’t happen. ************************************************ SAMPLE LETTER – PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO THE NORTHERN IRELAND OFFICE AND PRISONS SERVICE ------------------ For easier steps see http://members.freespeech.org/irishpows/bb3/POWs/actionrequest_maghab.htm ------------------ 1. Open an email and enter the following addresses into the "TO" bar: press.nio@nics.gov.uk; info@niprisonservice.gov.uk; info@psni.police.uk 2. Copy and paste the suggested text below into your email body 3. Add you name and location to the text. 4. SEND ----------------- NORTHERN IRELAND OFFICE Mr. Paul Murphy - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Block B Castle Buildings Belfast BT4 3STGTN NORTHERN IRELAND PRISON SERVICE Mr. Peter Russell - Director General Room 321 Prison Service Headquarters Dundonald House Upper Newtownards Road BELFAST BT4 3SU POLICE SERVICE OF NORTHERN IRELAND Mr. Hugh Orde - Chief Constable Headquarters Brooklyn 65 Knock Road Belfast BT5 6LE Friday, May 14, 2004 I am writing today to protest the deplorable treatment yesterday of the male republican prisoners at Roe House in Maghaberry Gaol. I am aware that these prisoners were held in their cells all day until afternoon without meals, and were then subjected to numerous incidents of sectarian abuse by the guards as their cells were searched by teams with dogs. I understand that the prisoners co-operated fully with the searches and did not resist, despite the fact that in many cases their cells were wrecked and left in a filthy state. I am aware that the prisoners felt there was a distinct effort afoot to provoke them and to incite them into a confrontation. I am particularly disgusted to learn that strip searches were carried out during the searches and that in one case a strip-searching was so abusive and invasive that the prisoner has defined the experience as rape. I find this to be utterly inexcusable and repellant in the extreme. I cannot see how this sort of abuse can be tolerated by your administration particularly with recent news reports of appalling prisoner abuses in the news Internationally. It is clear that there is a policy afoot to attempt to agitate these men for no reason. I will continue to monitor this situation, and I remain concerned regarding these and other ongoing human rights abuses at Maghaberry Gaol. Please advise. Thank you; YOUR NAME/LOCATION HERE ************************************************ © The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates |
| IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST www.irishfreedomcommittee.net ----------------------------- Subject: Irish prisoner transferred from British jail Date: Friday, May 14, 2004 After numerous delays of well over a year by the British Home Office, Irish republican prisoner John Paul Hannan was finally transferred from Whitemoor in England to Maghaberry Gaol this week. The Irish Freedom Committee would like to thank all of you who participated in our efforts to pressure the British Government into movement on John Paul Hannan’s transfer (SEE LINK). Normal procedure was followed in John Paul’s repeated requests to be moved to Ireland to serve his sentence, where he could be closer to his family, as is his right-- but intransigence on the part of the British Government continually delayed his transfer, in what can only be seen as a further attempt to demoralize John and his family. John Paul is currently being held in a committal wing in Maghaberry but will be moved in shortly with the Republican prisoners at Roe House. Please send a short greeting of welcome to John at: JOHN PAUL HANNAN Maghaberry Prison Roe 1+2 Upper Ballinderry Road Lisburn, Co. Antrim BT 28 2PT North of Ireland The Irish Freedom Committee® ************************************************ MORE ON JP HANNAN TRANSFER FIGHT ************************************************ © The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates |
| IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST www.irishfreedomcommittee.net ----------------------------- Subject: Better an Honest Socialist than a Lying Republican – Dolours Price Date: May 14, 2004 From The Blanket http://lark.phoblacht.net/betterhonest.html ---------- The Blanket Better an Honest Socialist than a Lying Republican Dolours Price • 11 May 2004 ---------------- Party quivers, (06/05/2004), Letters, Irish News SO Eamon McCann concedes that the Socialist Environment Alliance is NOT a republican organisation (April 16). Where stand now those Super Duper Dissident Republicans who scurried off to Derry during the last election to canvas for this non-republican organisation? - S O’NEILL, Ballymurphy --------------- Modesty does not allow me to assume that S. O'Neill, Ballymurphy, (Irish News) Letters page May 6th, is referring to myself specifically when he speaks of "Super Duper Republicans". I am a Republican. Born and bred as were my mother and father before me and theirs before them. I did drive to Derry to support Eamon McCann in his recent election campaign. I have known Eamon since I was a sixteen year old girl being beaten into the Burntollet River on student marches. I know him always to have been a socialist, an internationalist, and his dedication to his political beliefs has never wavered. He has known me to have always been a Republican, which I remind S. O'Neill encompasses socialism. Eamon McCann and myself differ in opinion on many issues. The relevance of the border, and the usefulness of armed struggle are but two; but we can debate our differences and mutually respect our varied political positions. We have much in common politically. Eamon in my long friendship with him has never called himself a Republican unlike those who have administered British Rule in the six counties and are now scurrying about begging for the re-establishment of Stormont and their jobs as British Ministers. Brendan O'Boyle, a relation of my mothers, died in 1955 while attempting to blow Stormont up! I have no time for Stormont. I have no time for the Good Friday Agreement. I have no time for people who constantly change their position, cement hard gathered weapons into the ground, abduct people and put them down bogs, beat those who do not agree with their rules, have a finger in every financial pie going and seem to have done very nicely for themselves in their day to day lives. They are not Republicans, they are Stalinists. They have turned a once noble Army into an armed militia whose only role is to strong arm any opposition to their insatiable political greed and opportunism. S. O'Neill is a typical product of the "truce-aleer" period, the "super trooper" being controlled by an autocratic politically defunct leadership bereft of any "solution" other than that dictated by handlers and the British/Free State coalition. Give me an honest Socialist any day before a lying treacherous so-called Republican. - Dolours Price ************************************************ © The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates |
| IRISH
FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST www.irishfreedomcommittee.net ----------------------------- Subject: Sympathy cards request – Ciaran Cunningham, Maghaberry Date: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 We respectfully ask all our Members and supporters to please send sympathy cards to Ciaran ‘Pip’ Cunningham at Maghaberry Gaol, following the death today of his father Joe. =============== Ciaran Cunningham Roe 1+2 Maghaberry Prison Upper Ballinderry Road Lisburn, Co. Antrim North of Ireland BT 28 2PT =============== Our deepest sympathies to Pip and to the Cunningham family at this sad time. The Irish Freedom Committee® ************************************************ © The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates |
| IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST www.irishfreedomcommittee.net ----------------------------- Subject: Patriotic mobile text message used to imply ‘Membership’ – SPECIAL COURTS Date: Tuesday May 11, 2004 The slogan "Our Day Will Come" harkens back to the American Civil Rights Movement and translates to the Irish as "Tiocfaidh Ár Lá". Today in Dublin's Free State Special Courts it was argued (for not the first time in the case of a Republican on trial at the Special Courts) that bearing an item carrying this slogan is somehow an intimation of GUILT and of 'Membership' to a proscribed organization. This "evidence", along with the sole word of a single Senior Garda officer, are enough to imprison an Irish Republican for up to five years for Membership. The Irish Freedom Committee® ************************************************Irish Examiner 11/05/2004 - 4:25:37 PM CIRA suspect had republican slogan on mobile A Limerick man accused of Continuity IRA membership had a republican slogan as a greeting on his mobile phone, the Special Criminal Court in Dublin was told today. Detective Garda Pat Brennan said that when he turned on Timothy King's mobile phone the slogan "Tiocfaidh Ár Lá" appeared on the phone. Detective Garda Brennan said the slogan means "Our Day Will Come" and he added: "It's a phrase used by the IRA in all its connotations and associations." "I believe it comes from the mid 1980's to encourage their supporters that their will day come in unifying Ireland and getting rid of the English," he said. Cross examined by King's counsel, Ms Grainne Mc Morrow SC, Detective Garda Brennan did not agree that it was a slogan commonly heard at hurling matches. He said that in searches he had carried out during his eight years as a Special Branch detective the phrase was on paraphernalia associated with illegal republican organisations. "It seems to be their calling card,'' he added. King (aged 27), of Clarina Avenue, Weston, Limerick has pleaded not guilty to membership of an illegal organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the IRA on June 19, 2003. The court has heard that King was arrested by Special Branch detectives in a stolen car in the car park of the Coachman's Inn at Cloghran, Co Dublin. The trial continues tomorrow. ************************************************ © The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates |
| IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST www.irishfreedomcommittee.net ----------------------------- Subject: Release of McCabe accused in deal to secure Provo stand-down Date: Tuesday, May 11, 2004 ------------------------------ Irish Times Tue May 11, 2004 McCabe killers could go free, says Ahern Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent The IRA killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe will have to be released as part of a final peace deal, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, made clear yesterday. His declaration is set to provoke a major confrontation in the Dáil this afternoon. Speaking at the launch of Fianna Fáil's local election campaign, the Taoiseach said the Sinn Féin leadership would not be able to persuade the IRA to stand down unless that happened. "I hate negotiating the endgame when I am not at the endgame, but it is quite clear to me, beyond all doubt, that it will not be possible for the leadership of Sinn Féin to be able to convince the Provisionals of closure without dealing with their list of outstanding issues. "One of those outstanding issues is these remaining prisoners." In February 1999, four men were sentenced to jail terms ranging from 11 to 14 years for the manslaughter of Det Garda McCabe, who was shot dead during an abortive post office van robbery in Adare, Co Limerick, in 1996. Rejecting charges that the Government has changed its mind or gone back on earlier promises, Mr Ahern said: "It is not a question of changing our minds. But it is this: the reality of the situation is that we are not going to have an end, a sign-off, on Provisional paramilitarism without having to deal with this issue. I continually argue that we should not have to deal with it, but the big picture in this is to get an end to Provisional paramilitarism in all its forms. "It is clear that Sinn Féin leadership will not be able to persuade the IRA on that issue until we come to a conclusion on a range of issues; one of those issues is this. If it was down to one item I would gladly go to the people to try to explain where I want to get to. But there are a lot of items on the agenda." ************************************************ © The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates |
| IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST www.irishfreedomcommittee.net ----------------------------- Subject: Iraqi Photos Stir Memories Of Torture In Ireland – The HOODED MEN Date: Monday, May 10, 2004 Parallels between the recent photographs coming out of Iraq and the ordeals of the HOODED MEN - Fourteen Irish citizens kidnapped and tortured in 1971. For more on the HOODED MEN see links to the IFC History Pages or the book link below. The Irish Freedom Committee® |
| IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST www.irishfreedomcommittee.net ----------------------------- Subject: Portlaoise protests planned over breach of agreement – E2/E3 Landings Date: Sunday May 9, 2004 For more on the background to this protest see story May 6, 2004: McKevitt refuses release terms for mothers’ funeral The Irish Freedom Committee® ************************************************ Sunday Business Post May 9, 2004 Portlaoise protests planned over breach of agreement By Barry O'Kelly Protests are planned by republican prisoners in Portlaoise jail after Department of Justice officials breached an agreement to allow inmates to visit critically ill family members. Department officials are believed to have agreed under the same deal to allow com- passionate parole for republican prisoners seeking to attend a christening, confirmation or first communion of a son or daughter. There was simmering tension in the jail this weekend after the department refused to allow former Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt to attend his mother's funeral without handcuffs or an armed escort. The prisoners on E 2 and 3 wings say they are carrying out a limited protest over the treatment of McKevitt, who is serving 20 years for directing the Real IRA. His 86-year-old mother Ellen was buried last Thursday after suffering a stroke. McKevitt was allowed to visit her for two days last month under the terms of the January 2003 agreement. However, the department refused to allow him out under the same terms after she died last week. In a statement this weekend, the prisoners said: ``The Department of Justice has discriminated against one of our comrades; it has reneged on its commitments; it has acted in bad faith; and it has attacked our status as political prisoners. ``As republican prisoners we are prepared to pay any price to uphold our political status. If this issue is not resolved our protest will escalate over the coming days.'' A prison source added: ``For fourteen months, this agreement worked smoothly and led to a significant reduction in tension at the prison. "During this period, both the Department of Justice and the republican prisoners on E2/3 abided by the January 2003 agreement.'' A prison service spokesman said: ``I'm not going into too much detail about it. I'm not going to discuss individual details. I'm not going to say whether there was going to be an armed escort or not.'' Asked was he aware of the January 2003 agreement, he said: ``I am aware of the agreement, but I'm not going into it.'' When pressed further, he said: ``I'm not answering.'' The spokesman later phoned back and said there had been ``no agreement as such'' with the prisoners. ************************************************ © The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates |
| IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST www.irishfreedomcommittee.net ----------------------------- Subject: Increased harassment of Republicans in East Tyrone Date: Friday May 7, 2004 Harassment of Republicans in the Occupied Six Counties continues on a daily basis. The statement below details two recent incidents-- one involving a young mother and infant-- in which civilians were terrorized by police dogs in pouring rain. The Irish Freedom Committee® ************************************************ CONDEMNATION In a statement released from Belfast today (May 7 2004), human rights spokesman ANDY MARTIN condemned the increased harassment of Republicans in East Tyrone. Mr. Martin said; |
| IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST www.irishfreedomcommittee.net ----------------------------- Subject: Derry prisoners’ family harassed by RUC/PSNI Date: Thursday, May 06, 2004 The elderly mother of Republican prisoner Seamus Doherty was visited in her home by ‘abusive’ and taunting RUC/PSNI British colonial police, her family reports. The Doherty family has already been enduring the deliberate frame-up of their son and brother Seamus, who is being held at Maghaberry prison on charges based on planted and tampered-with forensic evidence, and the word of a corrupt paid informant. For further reading on forensic evidence tampering in the case of Seamus Doherty please see the links below the Derry Journal news story. Please send cards to Seamus Doherty at: Seamus Doherty Maghaberry Prison, Lagan 1+2 Upper Ballinderry Road Lisburn, CO. Antrim BT 28 2PT North of Ireland The Irish Freedom Committee® ************************************************ The Derry Journal News Derry Family Accuse PSNI Tuesday 4th May 2004 THE FAMILY of a Derry prisoner have accused the PSNI of being 'abusive' to the man's elderly mother yesterday. The family of Seamus Doherty, currently awaiting trial on explosive charges, claimed that the PSNI arrived at Mrs. Doherty's home yesterday to return clothing taken previously. Mr. Doherty's sister, Anne Marie, said that the PSNI arrived at her mother's house with some items of clothing. She said: "They asked where Seamus was and then they said 'that's right he's in jail. "They then started making comments to my mother that he would be there for a long time and that she would not be seeing him." She went on: "They also made comments about slogans that have appeared about Seamus' case and when they were leaving they said 'have a nice day' and laughed as they drove away." The Derry woman went on: "This has left my mother very upset as she did not need this sort of hassle." However, the PSNI have denied that anything untoward happened when they called at the house. In a statement a spokesperson for the PSNI said: "Police officers visited a house this morning to return items of clothing seized during a criminal investigation, the officer concerned spoke to the family only to explain the procedure and obtain a signature for the items. "The clothing was thrown at the police officer when handed over. We completely refute any allegation that the police were abusive." ************************************************ FURTHER READING – FORENSIC TAMPERING April 30, 2004: Forensic evidence routinely tampered with in Occupied six counties http://members.freespeech.org/irishpows/bb3/april_2004.htm#forensicevidence_tampering March 3, 2004: Seamus Doherty- Appeal from his family http://members.freespeech.org/irishpows/bb3/march_2004.htm#seamus_doherty_appeal ************************************************ © The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates |
| IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST www.irishfreedomcommittee.net ----------------------------- Subject: Garda ‘Privilege’, paid informant, and text messages as ‘evidence’ – Dublin Special Courts Date: Thursday, May 06, 2004 Using the undocumented sole word or “privilege” of a senior police officer, the allegations of a paid informant, and patriotic text images on a cell phone as forensic ‘evidence’; the non-jury Dublin Special Courts are attempting today to convict Limerick man Timothy King on trumped-up “membership” charges. King has denied membership charges on seven separate occasions during his internment. Membership charges generally carry a minimum five-year sentence. The Irish Freedom Committee® ************************************************ breakingnews.ie Supt claims privilege in C-IRA trial evidence 06/05/2004 - 12:10:00 A Garda Chief Superintendent claimed privilege at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today when questioned over the source of his belief a Limerick man was a member of the Continuity IRA. Chief Superintendent Gerry Kelly was repeatedly questioned by Ms Grainne McMorrow SC, counsel for Timothy King, about the source of his information which grounded his belief that King was a CIRA member in June last year. The Chief Superintendent claimed privilege and said the source of his information was "confidential and sensitive". King, aged 27, of Clarina Avenue, Weston, Limerick has pleaded not guilty to membership of an illegal organisation, styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the IRA on June 19, 2003. The court has heard that King was arrested by Special Branch detectives in a stolen car in the car park of the Coachman's Inn at Cloghran, Co Dublin. Chief Supt Kelly has told the court that he believed King was a member of an unlawful organisation on June 19 last year. Cross-examined by Ms McMorrow, Chief Supt Kelly said that he had paid no money from garda funds for the source of his information. He agreed that he regarded the source as "reliable and well placed". He claimed privilege when asked if the informant actually knew King and when asked if the informant had ever been charged before a court. He agreed that King had never been before the Special Criminal Court before and he also agreed that King throughout seven garda interviews had denied membership. The trial is continuing. ************************************************ (From IOL News) 04/05/2004 - 13:06:11 A Limerick man who was a passenger in a stolen car was arrested by Special Branch detectives investigating Continuity IRA activity, the Special Criminal Court was told today. The court heard that the Special Branch detectives received information that Timothy King and another man were travelling to Dublin from Limerick for a Continuity IRA meeting. King, aged 28, an unemployed man, of Clarina Avenue, Weston, Limerick pleaded not guilty to membership of an illegal organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the IRA on June 19 last year. Detective Garda Jonathan O' Rourke, of the Special Detective Unit, told the court that he and Detective Garda Mark Daly were briefed that King and another man who were Continuity IRA members were travelling to Dublin in a stolen BMW car to meet with other men. He said that he and Det Gda Daly took up position at the M50. They followed a stolen BMW car to the car park of the Coachman's Inn in Co Dublin and the accused man was in the passenger seat of the car. He approached King and arrested him and took possession of a travel pass in a false name and a mobile phone. The prosecution has claimed that picture messages on the mobile phone showed a man wearing a balaclava with the words "IRA" and "Tiocfaidh Ar La". Another message showed a tricolour flag with the same words and another showed a Union Jack with the words "F… Brits" and "IRA rule". The trial is continuing. ************************************************ © The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates |
| IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST www.irishfreedomcommittee.net ----------------------------- Subject: McKevitt refuses release terms for mothers’ funeral Date: Thursday, May 06, 2004 Michael McKevitt has refused compassionate parole to attend his mother’s funeral today, apparently in protest of limited terms of release. McKevitt was released three weeks ago for an extended overnight visit to see his dying mother. Yesterday’s offer of release by prison authorities was limited to a few hours at the church ceremony and burial. Please send cards of condolence at this sad and difficult time for Michael McKevitt and his family. Michael McKevitt Portlaoise Prison, E-2/E-3 Portlaoise Co. Laois Ireland The Irish Freedom Committee® ************************************************ UTV THURSDAY 06/05/2004 12:58:39 Real IRA boss stays away from mother's funeral Real IRA mastermind Michael McKevitt chose not to attend his mother's funeral today after rejecting the terms of leave offered to him by the Prison Service. By:Press Association His 86-year-old mother Ellen, known as Nellie, died earlier this week after a long illness and was buried today in Dundalk, Co. Louth. But the 53-year-old dissident republican shunned the service despite seeking temporary leave from prison chiefs. McKevitt is serving a 20-year jail term at Portlaoise prison after being convicted of directing terrorism following a huge trial in Dublin last August. A Prison Service spokesman confirmed he had requested temporary leave to attend the funeral. ``We did try to facilitate him but he rejected the terms we offered which would have allowed him to attend the service and subsequent burial,`` he said. ``At the end of the day we have to be aware of the nature of the offence and security concerns.`` Around 100 mourners attended the Requiem Mass at St Nicholas Church. As the hearse pulled up a large crowd which had gathered outside filed slowly in, many carrying flowers. At each door of the church at least three heavily-built men kept a careful eye on proceedings. McKevitt was granted compassionate leave to visit his dying mother last month. He is one of five people currently being sued for €14 million euro in a landmark civil action by relatives of the 29 who were killed in the 1998 Omagh bombings. Solicitors acting for the Omagh Victim Civil Action Group served writs on the five suspects in 2002. Double-agent David Rupert is expected to testify against McKevitt. His evidence was instrumental in securing the conviction of the crime boss last year. The case is expected to be heard at Belfast High Court at the beginning of next year. ************************************************ © The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates |