IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE ACTION REQUEST |
MAGHABERRY PRISON CRISIS ESCALATES |
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June 30, 2006 Irish Republican political prisoners at Maghaberry contacted the Irish Freedom Committee today to deliver the ominous news that an ongoing protest at the jail has escalated, with 32 republicans of three different organizations now refusing to eat in their cells. As documented in our earlier IFC Report from Maghaberry (06/21/06), the selective and inhumane internment conditions at the jail order that republican prisoners eat their meals next to open toilets while confined in their airless cells - a filthy and inhumane provision, and one which the republican prisoners have now united in refusing to accept. A republican prisoner
has today told us: “Whole
organizations (in the jail) have come together … nobody is eating food
in their cells at all.
There are 32 republicans on landings from three different
organizations who are refusing to eat their dinner in their cells. We are looking to eat in the canteen and they are not letting
us down to eat in the canteen. They’re
trying to make us eat it in their cells where there’s a toilet and
all. Morale is good among
everyone … it’s good to see that everyone is doing the same thing,
singing off the same hymn sheet. We’re
just waiting for the next stage… Please tell everyone from the IFC we’re
keeping our spirits up. We
won’t break or we won’t falter… We’re OK.” We ask that all of our
members and supporters write TODAY to the addresses below and demand an
immediate end to the barbaric practice of having men confined in a
bathroom to eat.
These men are held in one of the highest security jails in Europe
and there is no reason why they cannot take their meals in the canteen
as other prisoners are allowed to do. TAKE
ACTION Copy and paste the
sample letter below or use your own words. Please
send one copy to the Northern Ireland Prison Service at
info@niprisonservice.gov.uk,
and enter one copy in the contact form at the NIO offices at http://www.nio.gov.uk/index/contact-us/enquiry-form.htm. Also please send
signed HARD COPIES of all letters to each of the three addresses posted
in the sample letter. [start copy
+
paste]---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MAGHABERRY
PRISON I am writing to
protest the barbaric and inhumane requirement of forcing the republican
prisoners at Maghaberry Prison to take their meals next to open toilets
in tiny cells. These men are held in
one of the highest security jails in Europe and there is no reason why
they cannot take their meals in the canteen as other prisoners are
allowed to do. I have recently become
aware of a number of other extremely unsanitary and inhumane conditions
at Maghaberry Jail and I will continue to monitor this situation very
closely. As an Irish American I
sadly remember the hunger strike twenty-five years ago that needlessly cost
the lives of ten men at Long Kesh Prison, on protest for their basic
human rights. I strongly urge you to immediately address the worsening
conditions at Maghaberry and prevent the situation from taking a
grievous turn for the worse. [end copy +
paste]---------------------------------------------------------------------------- +++++++++++++++++++++++++ Irish Freedom Committee Report from Maghaberry Gaol – June 2006http://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net/POWs/IFC_report_Maghaberry_0606.htm IFC Action Request – Republican Prisoners on Protest at Maghaberry (June 21 2006)http://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net/ACTION_ALERTS/actionrequest_PROTESTmaghab.htm IFC POW Depthttp://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net/POWs/ifc_pow_dept.htm +++++++++++++++++++++++++ |