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Irish Freedom Committee ACTION REQUEST
http://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net
SHAME ON DERMOT AHERN!
Intolerant Neglect toward Irish Prisoner with Disability.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
For seven years now, Irishman Noel Maguire has been interned, nearly
forgotten, in a series of British jails; held on a 22-year sentence on
political charges based on evidence that the prosecution at the time
called unconvincing. Mr. Maguire holds a now-expired Irish passport and
has two young children living in Carlow; yet the Irish government
refuses to allow him repatriation to serve his sentence in his home
country. In addition, Mr. Maguire has a learning disability that has
made it difficult for him to correspond with outsiders who might be in a
position to assist him.
Shamefully, Irish Justice, Equality and Law Reform Minister Dermott
Ahern has just overturned a FIFTH application by Noel Maguire to be
repatriated to Ireland,the country of his birth; to serve the remainder
of his 22-year sentence where he could be closer to the children he
hasn't seen in nine years. Request for repatriation to a jail in the
land of ones' citizenship is a right to all prisoners arrested abroad,
under the EU Human Rights Convention.
The Irish Freedom Committee charges hereforth that the dismissive
attitude that Minister Ahern and the Irish Government have taken in Mr.
Maguire's case for repatriation, is grounded solidly in a "loudly
unspoken"bias toward Mr. Maguire's well-published learning disability.
When newspaper accounts at the time of Mr.Maguire's arrest openly called
him "B.D.", or "Brain Dead", one needs little imagination to question,
is it Mr. Maguire's disability that Minister Ahern has set his hopes on,
that this man will be forgotten by the system, and left to rot hundreds
of miles away from his family? One would have to wonder why all four of
Mr. Maguire's co-accused have long since been repatriated, or
transferred, to the jail closest to their home in Ireland; all but Mr.
Maguire.
We call out Minister Ahern to answer to this increasingly apparent and
dismissive bias toward a handicapped prisoner and a citizen of the
country Minister Ahern ministers "Justice" to.
Since Mr. Maguire cannot speak for himself, we will. We request the
repatriation of Noel Maguire by Christmas to be near his family. Eight
years are too long. No sensible or logical reason has been presented why
this Irish citizen and father of Irish children cannot be repatriated to
serve the remainder of his sentence closer to where his children live in
Ireland. Bearing in mind that this prisoner has a pronounced learning
disability, one can only wonder why this poor man and his family are
being "forgotten".
SHAME ON JUSTICE MINISTER DERMOTT AHERN.
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