Derry 32 County Sovereignty Movement

Statement on Massareene verdict

2012-01-21T11:44:00.001-08:00

Statement
The verdict delivered in the trial of Colin Duffy and Brian Shivers yesterday is an indictment of British courts in Ireland. This trial from the outset was a show trial attempting to secure a guilty conviction against Republicans. The failure of the PSNI to apprehend those who were involved in the attack led them to try and frame these two men. We welcome the fact that Colin Duffy was acquitted as it was the only realistic verdict to reach given the total lack of credible evidence. However Brian Shivers, a man with a terminal illness has now been made a scapegoat for the failure of the PSNI. The sentence imposed upon Brian is in effect a death sentence and a gross violation of the due process of justice. Both these men were denied the right to trial by a jury and instead had to face the prospect of a British judge being the sole authority. These courts are now being used as a tool of repression against all those who take a stand against the status quo.The internment of Marian Price on trumped up charges continues and the prisoners continue to be beaten and harassed by prison officers before their appearances in these diplock courts. We urge all Republicans and human rights advocates to stand behind Brian and his family, and those who remain interned in Maghaberry. To remain silent in the face of such violation of human rights is to acquiesce to it.

Ends

Ex-RUC officers in 'sensitive' policing jobs

2012-01-18T11:59:00.000-08:00

More than three quarters of civilian staff employed by the PSNI on temporary contracts are former RUC officers who retired under the Patten redundancy scheme.
Nearly half of them are employed in the most sensitive areas of policing, including intelligence, the BBC can reveal.
The rehiring of retired RUC officers is a contentious issue for the PSNI.
Legislation in 2003 stated anyone who left the police with an enhanced Patten package would have to pay back their lump sum if re-employed as a police officer within five years.
But the prohibition did not apply to anyone rehired in a civilian capacity.
For years now, Sinn Fein and the SDLP have been asking the police to provide details of the number of former RUC officers rehired.
Repeatedly they were told it was not possible to provide the details because the PSNI did not keep a record of the past employment of civilian staff.
That position has now changed.
The PSNI has previously revealed that it is currently using the services of 399 staff supplied by a recruitment agency on temporary contracts.
In a letter to the Policing Board, it has now revealed that 304 of them are former RUC officers.
Another document obtained by the BBC reveals that nearly half of them are involved in the most sensitive areas of policing.
Sixty-three retired officers have been rehired by the intelligence branch of the PSNI.
Fifty-nine are working in the department that investigates all serious crime, including terrorist incidents.
A further 19 are working for specialist operations who respond to serious criminal and terrorist incidents.
The PSNI has defended the practice, arguing that it needs the range of highly-specialised skills and experience possessed by the former officers it has rehired.
"They do absolutely fantastic work in some very challenging areas and their experience and expertise is of huge benefit to us," Deputy Chief Constable Judith Gillespie told a meeting of the Policing Board last week.
Jonathan Craig accused critics of engaging in a witch-hunt against former RUC officers
"It makes eminent sense to employ staff of significant experience for a short period of time on a time bound contract."
She went on to acknowledge that the practice is a matter of public concern and said the police have a plan to reduce the reliance on temporary staff, but not to end it completely.
DUP members of the Policing Board support that position. They say any move to exclude former RUC officers from civilian roles within the PSNI would be discrimination, and they question the motives of the critics.
"Some individuals are determined to have a witch-hunt against former RUC officers who have, through their skills and knowledge base, been re-employed into the police force," said MLA Jonathan Craig .
"They cannot be discriminated against on any grounds, including their former employment."
Sinn Fein has asked the government's spending watchdog, the audit office, to investigate the practice, which it said should cease.
"This is not about a witch-hunt against former members of the RUC," Policing Board member Gerry Kelly said.
"This is about good policing, this is about good governance of policing, and really you wouldn't get away with this in any other organisation.
"Many of these former officers are now involved in very sensitive roles, but they are not accountable to the police ombudsman, they are not accountable to the Policing Board, they do not take the police oath and they are not accountable in terms of the code of ethics.
Gerry Kelly said the issue was about good policing
"The question has to be asked, who are they accountable to?"
A former director with the health service who is now an independent member of the policing board said she also has serious concerns about the practice.
Joan O'Hagan is vice chair of the board's human resources committee.
"My concern is with regard to the governance, accountability and the financial consequences of this action. I do not subscribe in any way to any suggestion of a witch-hunt for former RUC officers," she said.
"This is a complex issue that I am concerned about. It is not good practice and does nothing for public confidence."
The PSNI has said it will come back to the Policing Board with details of plans to reduce the number of retired officers employed on temporary contracts by the end of this year.
That is unlikely to be enough for those critics who say the practice should cease completely.

Echoes of 1981 - From the Andersonstown News

2012-01-12T08:54:00.001-08:00

The ongoing protest by republican prisoners in Maghaberry will be stepped up if Justice Minister David Ford does not implement the full terms of the August 2010 Roe House agreement.

Representatives of the support group Family and Friends of Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry were speaking to the Andersonstown News as inmates in the prison’s republican Roe House wing continue their no-wash protest at the continued use of full body strip-searching by prison authorities. The Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS) claim the use of full body strip-searching is “essential” for security reasons, an argument dismissed by the prisoners and their supporters, who say the inflammatory practice never guaranteed prison security in the past.

It has also been alleged that some long-serving prison officers are using full body strip-searching as “an opportunity to even old scores” against republicans.

The August 2010 Roe House agreement, which was struck between the republican prisoners and prison authorities with the help of independent facilitators, did away with full body strip-searching in the prison in favour of the non-invasive BOSS chair scanner and other technology-based procedures. The agreement also allowed for a gradual reduction in controlled movement for republicans within Roe House.

However, that agreement was to break down only a month later after prison authorities claimed it did not cover strip-searching in the reception area of Maghaberry Prison as prisoners were leaving and entering the facility.

The ensuing stand-off with the prison authorities over the issue, say supporters and relatives, has led to nearly 200 forced strip-searches on republicans inmates and the beating of prisoners who refuse to submit to strip-searching. It also saw the start of the latest no-wash protest, in May 2011.

Tensions have escalated to such an extent that the prison’s riot squad now permanently mans part of the wing in place of regular prison officers.

Brendy Conway of Family and Friends of Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry, himself a prisoner in Maghaberry at the time of the Roe House agreement and who helped negotiate that agreement on behalf of the prisoners, said the problem has become so bad that prisoners are “looking into the abyss”.

“Nothing has given rise to any hope at this stage that this can be resolved,” said Brendy. “The prisoners believed that they had been given cast-iron guaranteed commitments by the [prison] administration to do away with the strip-searching completely and to relax controlled movement within a given time-frame. It was also the understanding of the facilitators that that was the case. However, the Prison Service have now made it quite clear to the facilitators that the August 12 agreement did not cover strip-searching in the reception area. Had we known that we would never have signed the agreement.

“Since May 5, the protest has increased. We have a situation now where we have prisoners on various forms of protest – some are on dirty protest and some guys are not, due to health reasons and age. We are looking into the abyss.”
Former blanketman Alex McCrory, also of Family and Friends of Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry, said that elements within the prison and the NIPS “began to work against the agreement” immediately after it was agreed upon by the relevant parties.

“Strip-searching was re-introduced after the agreement within a very short time and progress on controlled movement was stalled to a snail’s pace,” said Alex. “The prisoners would refuse to comply with the strip-searching as they said it was in breach of the agreement and this then led to forcible strip-searching. Since August 2010 there have been almost 200 forced strip-searches in the prison, leading to countless injuries to prisoners. These searches are very aggressive, involving four to six screws dressed in riot gear wielding shields and batons. Prisoners are beaten to the ground. They have restraining locks applied to their joints and their clothes are forcibly removed. On at least two occasions clothes have been cut off from their bodies using scissors. Several prisoners have received injuries as a result of that. In relation to controlled movement, in Maghaberry today there is a ratio of three screws to one prisoner and five screws to two prisoners. In Long Kesh you had a ratio of two screws to thirty-plus men on a wing with unrestricted movement. The history of republican wings tells us that prison staff are safe when points of conflict are removed. That is the situation that we find ourselves in at present.”

Alex said the facilitators who helped broker the initial Roe House agreement have told the Friends and Family group that a “a blockage in the system at a very senior level” is preventing the full implementation of the terms agreed in August 2010. He added that long-serving prison guards were the main instigators of the “hassle” the prisoners were getting.

“They [the independent facilitators] said that there are people within the system that are totally opposed to the ending of full body strip-searching for the purposes of security even though there is new technology available that makes a full body strip-search obsolete and unnecessary.

“Certain protestors are singled out, such as Colin Duffy [Lurgan] and Harry Fitzsimons [Ballymurphy], men who have a history going back to Long Kesh. There is a sense that some prison guards are getting their own back now for what happened in the past. They have this old mindset and unfortunately Maghaberry affords them the opportunity to even old scores.”

The current no-wash protest involves some 35 prisoners aligned to different republican groups who are refusing to wash, shave or have their hair cut.

“For example, on the top landing you have ONH [Óglaigh na hÉireann]-aligned and RSF [Republican Sinn Féin]-aligned prisoners who are putting their human waste on the walls,” explained Alex. “On the bottom landing, prisoners aligned to the 32 County Sovereignty Movement and independent prisoners are putting their human waste on to the landing.
Although there are differences in tactics, there is a full protest at present.”

Alex added that current conditions for prisoners in Roe House are “extremely harsh” and the atmosphere within the wing is “extremely hostile and tense”.

“The bottom landing, which holds 14 of the protestors, is being run by the prison riot squad in full riot gear so the ordinary screws have effectively been withdrawn,” he said. “The prisoners are searched leaving the cell, outside the cell and on returning to the cell. The screws in the riot squad are trained to be aggressive and in-your-face so there has been an awful lot of hostility and tension which the prisoners live with on a daily basis. There is always potential for a flare-up because of the tense relationship between the prisoners and the riot squad. A few of the prisoners have been in jail before and a sizeable number have been in the Kesh, but for the vast majority of them this is their first time in jail. There are no former blanketmen there, so this would be their first experience of these types of conditions and they find it very, very difficult to cope with, but they are very determined to see the agreement implemented in full.”

NIPS claims that the use of full body strip-searches is essential for security reasons have been rubbished by the Friends and Family group.

“As ex-prisoners, we can tell you that that’s complete nonsense,” said Alex. “A full body strip-search never guaranteed prison security. On the blanket protest we were able to bring in thousands of comms, tobacco, radios and God knows what else despite a full body strip-search and mirror search. The full body strip-search is about control and domination, it’s as simple as that. It’s the first contact that the prisoner has with the system and in the first contact you have with that system you are compelled to remove your clothing and stand naked before three or four grown men. The ironic thing is that the technology that we are proposing probably enhances security rather than compromises security.”
The support group backs the implementation of the recommendations of the recent independent review into the Northern Ireland Prison Service by Dame Anne Owers, in which she found the Prison Service here to be “dysfunctional” and “ineffective”.

“She recommends that the Prison service as a whole gets other forms of search procedures in place other than full body strip-searching,” said Alex.

“She says there are new technologies that would render the full body strip-search absolutely unnecessary and describes the practice as ‘an invasion of privacy and intrusive’. That report was released two months ago but [Justice Minister] David Ford is saying that it could take two years to implement her recommendations.”

The two men say that prisoners feel that they are not getting “the type of support they deserve from former friends
and comrades who should know better and who have been through this whole experience before”.

“Sinn Féin have met with the prisoners on several occasions and met with our group on several occasions and we have discussed the issues inside-out,” said Alex.

“They have made numerous public statements calling on David Ford to implement the agreement, but unfortunately that is not enough. We believe there has to be some sort of meaningful political action following on from these statements. The DUP are the main obstacle to the implementation of this agreement so there has to be a counter to that. The Family and Friends group are calling on Sinn Féin to use their political strength in a positive way to counter the DUP on this issue and to bring a speedy resolution to this problem.”

Alex accepts that the lack of outside interest in the protest could be because it involves prisoners from micro-republican
groups.

“To a large extent that is the case, but I also think that people don’t like the idea of the past coming back to haunt them,” he said.

“The situation is bad at the moment and it is difficult to see how the protest can be escalated without something drastic coming into play. Obviously that’s not something that’s being talked about by prisoners or the organisations they align to, but we are talking about a situation here where prisoners are living in their own waste. Now I spent two and a half years on the blanket protest and it cannot get any worse than that. They are under enormous pressure in terms of the physical conditions in which they find themselves and because of that, that puts enormous pressure on the men’s families.”

Brendy Conway added that the prisoners “are not looking anything that was not already agreed as far back as August 2010”.

“Going into 2012 we have prisoners still on dirty protest and locked down 23 hours a day and people going through lengthy trials who are being forcibly stripped twice a day, such as Colin Duffy,” said Brendy.

“The ball’s in their court. To quote the facilitators, an hour could sort this out.”

A spokesperson for the NIPS said the service has “consistently maintained that full body searching on entering and exiting any prison is essential to preserve the security of the establishment and the safety of other prisoners, staff and the wider community in line with practice in other jurisdictions throughout Europe”. The spokesperson continued:“A search facility for separated prisoners at Maghaberry, incorporating a BOSS chair, has been operational since November 17, 2010. In line with the August 2010 agreement, there is no longer any requirement for routine rub-down searching within the separated wings, except where a prisoner is being moved out of the wing. However, the BOSS chair cannot detect non-metallic items. NIPS believes that the existing arrangements are consistent with the August agreement and remains committed to the implementation of the agreement. This position was upheld by the courts when it was challenged by judicial review earlier this year.

“In line with Dame Anne Owers’ recommendation that we should seek an alternative to ‘full body searching’ in her review of NIPS, we are currently researching what, if any, other alternative technologies are available. To date, no viable alternative has been identified.”

Asked about the deployment of the prison riot squad at sections of Roe House in place of regular prison guards, the NIPS spokesperson added: “Members of the NIPS Dedicated Search Team are currently deployed to Roe House at Maghaberry prison for operational reasons, but this arrangement is kept under review by the Governor.

“There is a complaints procedure in place, in particular the Prisoner Ombudsman, should any prisoner believe that NIPS staff have behaved inappropriately.”

Sister speaks of brother’s beating

The family of a West Belfast man currently on the no-wash protest in Maghaberry prison have vowed to stand by him 100 per cent “no matter what decisions he makes” as fears of a protest escalation mount.

Lilian Fitzsimons, sister of 43-year-old Harry Fitzsimons from Ballymurphy, was speaking to the Andersonstown News as her brother continues on the no-wash protest in the Roe House wing of the County Antrim prison.

Harry’s family say the father-of-four has been severely beaten on two occasions by guards at the prison, with the last attack in May 2011 leaving him with a suspected cracked rib and extensive cuts and bruising to his face and body.
Speaking about the most recent beating, Lilian said her brother was given a 15-minute ultimatum to agree to a strip-search before it was brutally forced upon him in his prison cell.

“When they [the prison guards] came in they got him on the ground,” she said.

“While they were beating him and trailing his clothes off him, one of them was ramming a knuckle into a pressure point below his ear constantly. There were six of them that came in and it lasted about 15 to 20 minutes.”

Lilian said when she heard about the attack and tried to contact the prison, she was told nothing of the injuries that her brother had suffered.

“When I asked about him and said I heard that he was beaten I was told ‘No, no, no. We don’t beat our prisoners. Don’t be silly, we don’t beat our prisoners’,” she said.

“I had a visit the next day with him and when I went up I saw the physical injuries on him and I could see the cuts where they had kicked his glasses into his face when he was lying on the ground.

“You could actually see the other visitors and prisoners that were in the visiting room that day taken aback when they saw Harry. It was awful and it was sad, particularly knowing that you couldn’t do anything about it. Even for me to hug him was hurting him.”

Lilian said a priest at the prison spoke to her about Harry’s injuries.

“He said to me, ‘He’s alive but he didn’t get that bumping into a door.’”

Headaches

The family say it was six days before a doctor examined Harry’s injuries.

“The prison was saying he was refusing to see a doctor. He wasn’t as he was in absolute agony,” said Lilian.

“Harry wears prescription glasses so he wasn’t able to see properly and he also gets terrible headaches when he has no glasses. The reason they gave for the savage beating is that when Harry was throwing his waste out on to the landing after the cell doors were opened some of it got on the prison guards’ shoes and that’s why they entered his cell.”

Lilian said that after the first beating her brother received in April 2010, he was put in the special supervision unit for 14 days.

“They didn’t even let his solicitor in,” she said. “We didn’t know if he was alive or dead or what physical state he was in as they gave him a real physical beating that time too. Families are given such little information and to us it seems these people think it’s their God-given right to beat any republican in the jail. It’s the same administration and regime that’s running the jail as it was pre-hunger strike and I get the impression that they can do what they want. This leaves the family so distressed, it hurts you and it makes you so angry and that’s why people are protesting on the outside as they know it just isn’t right.

“This isn’t normal, if this happened anywhere else in the world there would be such an uproar about it. In this day and age they should not be allowed to get away with stuff like that.”

Lilian added that despite the gruelling conditions her brother has to endure, “he is still very strong in body and mind”.

“No matter what, he stands up for what he believes in and a lot of people will stand by him,” she said.

“Nothing would get him down and this isn’t something that would break him, if anything it would make him determined to carry on.

“As a family we will stand by him 100 per cent no matter what decisions he makes, we will be there for him and we will stand by him.”

The bad faith and broken promises

1998: Good Friday Agreement is implemented. Political prisoners are released early on the condition that the groups they are affiliated with are on ceasefire and continue to remain on ceasefire

September 2000: The H-Blocks are closed down. Any republicans arrested after the closure of the H-Blocks are now integrated with ‘ordinary decent criminals’ (ODCs) in Maghaberry prison.

“They were mixed in with loyalists and the likes of paedophiles and so on,” said Brendy Conway, former Maghaberry prisoner and member of the Friends and Family of Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry.

“As the number of republican prisoners increased in Maghaberry over the years they spread them out throughout the prison.”

2002: Republican prisoners in Maghaberry begin forms of no-wash protest. Republican prisoners demand a separate wing in the prison from loyalist prisoners, after several clashes, and from ODCs.

September 2003: Publication of the Steele Report. Following escalations in the no-wash protests at Maghaberry, the British government commissions a review of conditions at the prison conducted by a team headed up by Sir John Steele, a former Director of the Northern Ireland Prison Service. The report recommends “separation by paramilitary affiliation” of prisoners to help provide a safer environment. The report recommendations are adopted. Two new wings are now to be built at Maghaberry Prison – Roe House for republican prisoners and Bush House for loyalists.

“On the basis of the Steele Report’s findings, and as part of the agreement then reached between the prisoners and the prison authorities, the prisoners agreed to come off protest until this new wing was built,” said Brendy.

“It was also agreed that the authorities would recognise prisoner structures – i.e. the prisoners would have representatives to deal with the authorities on education, for instance, or the day-to-day running of the landing.”

March 2004: Roe House is opened and republican prisoners move in. However, in a position statement shown to the Andersonstown News, republican prisoners claim the previous agreement with the authorities was instantly reneged upon when the wing was opened and a “criminalisation regime put in place which was again designed to control, degrade and criminalise republican prisoners”. This is alleged to have included: prisoners searched up to six times a day when moving between cells and recreation area; daily cell searches; “degrading” full body strip-searches; prisoners locked up for up to 22 hours a day; three guards to every prisoner when they left their cells.

2004 to 2008: Prisoners begin protesting again, this time in reaction to deteriorating conditions at Roe House. “There were different token protests by the prisoners to get the authorities to change the ratio of guards to prisoners,” said Brendy.

“This approach worked to some extent – they increased the number of prison officers to five officers for two prisoners but then the maximum number of prisoners allowed out was changed from three to eight.”

2008 to 2009: Talks and debates begin between the republican prisoners to decide how best to move the protest forward and improve the conditions for republican prisoners. “We identified the main areas that we wanted dealt with before we would come off protest,” said Brendy, who was then a prisoner in Roe House.

“These areas were: the controlled movement of prisoners; the full body strip-searching of prisoners; recognition by the Prison Service that republican prisoners were not ordinary prisoners and therefore should be treated differently. Strip-searching and controlled movement were the two main areas that we wanted movement on. I was involved in those negotiations and we came to an agreement on how we were going to do it. The first stage of that took place in April 2010.”

April 4, 2010: The prisoners barricade themselves into the canteen area of Roe House for 36 hours. “We were then forcibly removed from the canteen and returned to our cells,” said Brendy.

“After that the protest inevitably increased through April, May and into June. There were 28 prisoners on the two landings in Roe House and all of them were on full protest, which was throwing our waste on to the landing.

“On one occasion West Belfast man Harry Fitzsimons had a disagreement with an SO [senior officer]. He went out for an hour’s exercise, came back and after lunch a riot squad was sent into his cell and severely beat him. They pulled him off the wing and put him in the SSU (special supervision unit), handcuffed him to a bed, cut his clothes off and strip-searched him. That evening when they took him off the wing all the prisoners wrecked their cells, which signalled the start of the protest escalating.”

The new no-wash protest saw prisoners putting their waste out of their cell doors and windows and refusing to wash.

June 2010: Facilitation between prisoners and the Northern Ireland Prison Service begins. As the stalemate between the prisoners and the prison authorities deepens, the group Family and Friends of Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry is formed outside the prison to raise awareness of the prisoners’ plight. By the end of June a facilitation group made up of Derry community worker Conal McFeely, Peter Bunting from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and Dr Ram Manikkalingam from the Dialogue Advisory Group enters the prison to help mediate a deal between the prisoners, the Northern Ireland Prison Service and the Maghaberry prison administration.

“The prisoners debated this [the involvement of the facilitation group] and agreed to it, under certain conditions – that we would speak to them frankly and at all times be in control of what we were doing,” said Brendy.

“A 10-man negotiating team was then set up by the prisoners to speak for them, who then elected two people to speak on their behalf, who were myself and Colin Duffy.”

The prisoners’ two main demands are: an end to strip searching and for more humane and less intrusive methods to be used instead; the end to controlled movement.

“We met facilitators and then met directly with prison governors,” said Brendy.

“The governors said they were willing to look at our demands, but only if the prisoners came off protest, which we refused.”

Negotiations continue.

August 6, 2010: A “final proposal” is offered by the prison that does not address the prisoners’ two main demands. “The facilitators told us there was nothing more that could be done,” said Brendy. “So the prisoners decide to increase the protest in jail, which led to a cessation of visits and an increase in tension in the prison.”

August 11: Facilitators re-enter the prison with a new agreement ending full body strip-searching. “It was supposed to remove the practice entirely from within Maghaberry, except in two circumstances,” said Brendy.

“One was if intelligence-led information suggested that a prisoner was smuggling stuff in and this information could be stood over by a credible third party (video footage etc). Secondly, if the technology we agreed could be used in the new search indicated that there was something there, a full strip-search could be carried out. So we gave them room that they still had an opportunity to carry out strip-searching in certain circumstances.”

The technology the prisoners agreed could be used in place of full body strip-searches includes a BOSS scanner, effectively a metal-detector chair.

“We agreed that if we were leaving the prison to go on visits or go to court we would remove our footwear, belts and outer coats and put them through an airport-type scanner,” said Brendy.

“We would then be given rubdown searches, scanned over with a metal-detector and seated in the Boss chair. We agreed on that and accepted it.

“In terms of controlled movement, we agreed that, on the signing of the agreement and on the end of our protest, the authorities would immediately increase the number of prisoners allowed out at one time. The number of prisoners allowed out on the landing at one time was increased from three to six straight away. It was also agreed by December 2010 that the number of prisoners allowed out would increase again, and by early 2011 we would all have freedom of movement within Roe House and the two landings from 8am in the morning to 8pm at night.

“The prison staff were always concerned that it would go back to a Maze-type scenario where there would only be a small amount of guards on the wing at any time. But we never negotiated for the removal of prison officers from the landing, if there had to be 50 of them we didn’t care as long as it didn’t impede our freedom of movement, i.e. that as prisoners our doors should be opened in the morning and we could move freely about our landings, canteen and yard.”

August 12, 2010: The Roe House agreement is signed. “Within the first few days there were teething problems on controlled movement – which we allowed for – for instance they were not allowing six out at a time as the place was upside down with tradesmen in working etc,” said Brendy.

“But right to this day they have never let six prisoners out as the guards were refusing to let that number out without 15 to 16 staff on the landing.”

September 23, 2010: First forcible full body strip-search since Roe House agreement is carried out on Brendy Conway as he is leaving for court appearance. “I was told to strip but I flatly refused as it was not part of the Roe House agreement,” said Brendy.

“I was told by guards it was part of the agreement as reception was not covered in the agreement. A big argument then started between prison governors and myself and during this I was forcibly removed from the reception area, brought to the punishment unit of the prison where I was pinned to the floor and forcibly strip-searched.”

Prisoners opt not to go back on protest but to inform facilitators of the agreement breach against Brendy Conway. The recently inactive group Family and Friends of Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry is reformed on the outside.

November 17, 2010: New search facility opens adjacent to Roe House. This new search facility contains the aforementioned Boss chair and scanners. Prisoners are now searched leaving and entering Roe House to visit other parts of the prison as well as being strip-searched in the main reception area of Maghaberry when they are leaving and entering the prison site.

On the first day the new search facility at Roe House is used a mouth search is introduced on prisoners which they refuse to cooperate with. This sparks a stand-off between prison staff and prisoners in the run-up to Christmas which leads to the cessation of prison visits. Facilitators are brought in again and it is agreed that conversing between prisoner and guard would be seen as acceptable in place of a mouth search. Visits begin again in the week leading up to Christmas.

Early 2011: Prisoners continue meeting with facilitators and political parties visiting the prison while the Family and Friends group continue their campaign on the outside.

May 5, 2011: Prisoners begin protest again. The Prison Service makes it clear to facilitators that the agreement did not cover strip-searching in reception area.

“The prisoners deemed the agreement as effectively over as authorities were no longer adhering to it,” said Brendy.
“Prisoners then wrecked their cells and began a no-wash protest again. What needs to be made absolutely clear is that as far as the facilitators were concerned their interpretation of the Roe House agreement of August 12, particularly in regards to full body strip-searching, was always in line with the prisoners’ interpretation.”

October 2011: An independent review into the Northern Ireland Prison Service is published. The independent review, commissioned by the Minister for Justice David Ford and headed up by Dame Anne Owers, finds the Prison Service here “dysfunctional” and “ineffective”. One of its key recommendations is the need to do away with full body strip-searching in favour of using other technologies.

The no-wash protest continues.

Dirty protest by republican prisoners puts top jail on brink of deadly disease

2012-01-08T02:35:00.000-08:00

A Republican on dirty protest in Maghaberry jail claims the North's top security prison is fast deteriorating into a cesspit of disease.
Damien McLaughlin, the first prisoner on the protest to be freed, described in graphic detail the horrific conditions in which republican inmates live and prison staff work.
The 34 republican inmates are engaged in a bitter dispute with the authorities over forced strip-searching.
McLaughlin said: "Prisoners are smearing their excrement on cell walls or else mixing it with urine and pouring it out their doors onto the landing.
"Inside the cells are awful, outside is a mess too. The stench is unbelievable. The riot squad are permanently on our landing. They're dressed in white disposable boiler suits, helmets, boots, and latex gloves.
"They're armed with batons. They tramp through the excrement and urine to hand us meals to be eaten in our cells. It's a serious health hazard and there's a real danger of a disease outbreak."
The protesting prisoners claim a BOSS chair – an X-ray-type machine already in Maghaberry – means strip searching isn't needed and is used only to "degrade and criminalise" republicans.
But prison officers insist strip-searching is vital to security and the prisoners' protest is to blame for the current health risks.
McLaughlin claimed the prisoners were locked in their cells 22 hours a day and were sometimes denied food for up to 16 hours.
The situation was "at breaking point", he claimed: "Tensions are at an all-time high. Maghaberry is a powder keg."
Republican inmates are refusing to shave or cut their hair. McLaughlin, a 35-year-old father of two from Ardboe, Co Tyrone, was released last Friday.
Emerging from the prison to be greeted by family and friends, he looked like a H-Block blanketman from the 1970s, sporting a bushy beard.
McLaughlin, who served two years in Maghaberry for weapons' possession, was forcibly strip-searched 23 times. He said Colin Duffy – charged with murdering two British soldiers at Massereene – had been strip-searched 76 times.
McLaughlin claimed strip-searching was brutal. "One prison officer grabs your head, two others grip your hands, while the fourth holds you down on the floor," he said.
"They tear off your trousers, socks and boxer shorts. They run a scanner over your back passage and genitals. Then, they search your upper body.
"After a strip search, you feel like you've been in a car crash. Your whole body aches."
When asked why there should be any public concern for men accused or convicted of serious offences, McLaughlin said: "We know many people have no sympathy for us.
"Prisoners don't expect kid-glove treatment. Jails aren't holiday camps but neither should they be places of inhumanity. The dirty protest was a last resort because we were being treated like animals."
McLaughlin claimed lights are deliberately shone into prisoners' cells, or else their doors are banged three or four times a night, to stop them sleeping.
The prison service strongly denies allegations of brutality or harassment. The DUP accuses republicans of wanting to "turn Maghaberry into the Maze".

http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/breen/arts2012/jan1_dirty_protest_prison_brink_disease___SBreen_Sunday-World.php

32CSM new year statement 2012

2011-12-31T02:27:00.000-08:00

As 2011 draws to a close we send greetings to our supporters and activists at home and abroad. We salute the dedication and enthusiasm shown by all during the past year. It has been a difficult year for Republicans, we have seen ever increasing levels of harassment of our activists on both sides of the border. This has extended beyond the targeting of individuals and is now being used as a tool of coercion against extended families and whole communities. The true nature of the six county state has been revealed as in the past year it has reverted to type. We have witnessed the reintroduction of the supergrass trial, political policing, sectarian marches and the criminalising of Republican POWs.

The 32CSM salutes the courage of the POWs in both Maghaberry and Portlaoise in the past year. An agreement that was signed in good faith by the POWs was reneged on by the prison service, but it is the British government and their accomplices at Stormont who bare the ultimate responsibility for the ongoing crisis. We call on them to recognise the agreement and to end the degrading and unnecessary strip searches.

We send greetings and solidarity to Marian Price, interned once again in a British gaol. Marian’s case should not be of interest only to republicans but to all who profess a concern for human rights and justice. The 32CSM will step up and expand our campaign in 2012 to highlight this blatant disregard for Marian’s human rights. We will not stop until she is back with her family and comrades.

The economic situation in Ireland has not only deteriorated in the past year it has exposed the fundamental contradiction in Capitalism and those who adhere to it in this country. Whilst the majority are told to shoulder the burden of the few, those who exploit and betray the working class remain immune. The 32CSM has laid out the framework for a new Ireland, sovereign politically, economically and socially on the basis that it is the people of Ireland who must decide how their country functions. The occupation of the six counties by an Imperialist power is mirrored now in the 26 counties by an administration that is directed by the IMF. The power wielded by both imperialism and capitalism in Ireland is an impediment to the Republic envisioned by Connolly, Lalor, Pearse and Tone.

The forces of resistance ranged against these twin impediments to progress are multifaceted in both their approach and character. The 32CSM recognises that whilst the cause of the conflict in Ireland is left out of political discourse then the solution will remain out of reach. The IRA has struck against the forces of the occupation and the capitalist institutions that enable and compliment the efforts of normalisation. The IRA are not the cause of conflict in Ireland they are a response to the conditions created by Imperialism in Ireland. The 32CSM believes that there is no room for ambiguity on the issue of resistance. To refuse to engage with those who acknowledge that resistance is inevitable and legitimate is to endorse the establishment narrative.

The 32CSM in 2011 showed our resolute commitment to make our Republicanism an active and relevant ideology. Our activists have been to the forefront in an array of campaigns across Ireland. Whether it is the issue of drug abuse in working class communities or right wing economic cuts against services we have recognised that it is imperative for us to respond to the needs of our communities. In the coming year we will enhance and broaden this social commitment and articulate our vision of a Republicanism that will meet the needs of the people of Ireland and provide a framework for political and social liberation.

We will continue the struggle in the coming year and we are confident that with courage and a sincere commitment to Republican values it will be a year of success and a defiant response to those who seek to destroy our movement and all it stands for.

Beir Bua

32CSM Condemns Felon Setting in Wake of Dolan's Fire.

2011-12-29T14:18:00.000-08:00

The 32CSM in Derry condemns the scandalous attempt at felon setting carried out by Provisional Sinn Fein in the wake of the fire at Sean Dolans GAA club. When a life long Republican from Creggan went to the scene he was accused by PSF members of "associating with fascists". PSF members were then instructed by Raymond McCartney not to speak or associate with the man in question. PSF members have since engaged in a sinister whispering campaign of ludicrous accusations in a pathetic attempt to establish a link between the fire and republicans.

Kevin Campbell led the misinformation campaign by appearing on UTV Live claiming that the blaze was the work of a local vigilante group. Despite the Fire Service stating that the fire was not malicious. The 32CSM is totally opposed to this type of underhand and malicious behaviour and believe it serves no purpose other than the criminalisation of republicans in Derry. We call on all Republicans to reject these ridiculous accusations and to stand behind the community in the wake of this unfortunate incident.

Independent wreath laying for Staff Capt junior McDaid-Thursday

2011-12-28T06:21:00.000-08:00

An Independent family wreath laying ceremony in honour of Staff capt. James "Junior" McDaid, will be held at 1.00pm tomorrow,Thursday 29th December at the memorial to Junior, which is situated off Alder road,Ballyarnett,Derry.
Tomorrow will be the 39th anniversary of Junior's assassination at the hands of an SAS death squad.

All encouraged to attend

Marian Price boards erected in Derry

2011-12-19T17:57:00.000-08:00

Boards were erected today highlighting the case of Marian Price, a 57 year old woman in poor health who is currently suffering solitary confinement in Maghaberry Gaol as a result of a British Tory secretary of state trumping the much lauded supposedly devolved proxy puppet parliament that is Stormont.

Former comrades of Marian sit within the bastion of Unionism playing at politics and getting handsomely paid for their pretence until Westminster ,as it tends to do , flexes it muscles to show where the real power lies.

The miscarriages of justice that came to embarrass the British Judiciary during the 70s,80s and 90s,with cases such as the Guildford 4, Birmingham 6, Maguire family ... live long in the memory where Irishmen, women and children were framed and incarcerated to appease the British public, not withstanding the fact that those incarcerated were completely innocent and the establishment knew they were innocent.

The Brits wanted their pound of flesh and innocence mattered not a jot!

Those who suffered the injustices and miscarriages of justice inflicted by the British Judicial system campaigned from their cells to highlight their cases and were joined in the campaigns by those who are now sitting in the corridors of Stormont blatantly ignoring the "rotten to the core" jailing of innocents now being re-established by the state.Those who stood beside and campaigned for those suffering this injustice system seem now content to be subservient to the DUP and be led by the nose.

The media now will not report the daily beatings, the daily violations and the constant torture of Republicans within the gaol system as to do so could shatter the myth of their portrayal of normalisation.

Marian Price has been Interned by the British! The evidence which the British held ( a full pardon ), we are being told by them has been lost..In effect, they have lost ( shredded / buried ) the evidence which proves she is being illegally held, yet Marian is forced to remain in gaol.

James Connolly stated "Yes, ruling by fooling, is a great British art with great Irish fools to practice on."

Internment has been reintroduced, Irish innocents are suffering once again British injustices and those who shouted loudest about previous miscarriages of justice are now implementing new miscarriages of Justice for their paymasters.

Shame on them!

End British Internment! Free Marian Price!

4 day old baby victim of RUC/PSNI stop search

2011-12-07T05:12:00.000-08:00

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement condemn the latest incident in which a 4 day old baby was subjected to freezing conditions as the RUC/PSNI once again targeted his parents for the daily stop search harassment.

A squad car had followed the family for some time before ordering them to stop. They proceeded to open all the doors and boot of the car despite protests that the car contained a 4 day old baby and they were effectively putting the child’s health at risk.

This fell on deaf ears as they ploughed their way through the car and leant over the top of the baby while conducting their search.

This family are targeted daily for this type of harassment enduring hundreds of searches over the last year. The RUC/PSNI in all this time and with all these searches have never once found anything during these searches, yet, by the letter of their own law, they are supposed to have a reasonable doubt before they can conduct a stop search.

Section 44 was deemed illegal in January 2010 by the European court of human rights, yet the RUC/PSNI have simply switched the stop search abuse to another section of the legislation and continue to manipulate it to target and harass the families of Republicans.

The Strasbourg court ruled it was unlawful for police to use the powers, under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, to stop and search people without needing any grounds for suspicion.
The widely-drawn ruling said that not only the use of the counter-terror powers, but also the way they were authorised, were "neither sufficiently circumscribed, nor subject to adequate legal safeguards against abuse".
"The absence of any obligation on the part of the officer to show a reasonable suspicion made it almost impossible to prove that the power had been improperly exercised," the judges said in describing the lack of judicial checks.
As such, section 44 was not in "accordance with the law" and amounted to a violation of article eight – the right to respect for private and family life.

The illegality and revocation of the section 44 law has made no difference to this family who continue to be targetted in exactly the same manner as they were under section 44 with the abuse of another section of the legislation

Derry Beir Bua - November 2011

2011-11-23T00:31:00.000-08:00

A day in the life of a Republican POW in Maghaberry - Letter

2011-11-17T09:39:00.000-08:00

A chara,

We near the start of our 7th month on protest which started on May 6th 2011. The following is what a POW has to endure daily and has been doing so for the past few months while on protest.
After a night of so called “body checks” ( and for those of you who don’t know what it is) – It’s a screw going round each cell door, banging it open and shining a torch on the POW inside while he is sleeping. This is designed to minimise sleep during the night. It happens at least 2-4 times between the hours of 10pm and 7am.Then,at 7am, between 20-25 alarm bells go off loudly, each one lasting from 5 seconds up to 2 minutes. Then, between 7.30am and 8.15am your door bursts open and standing glaring at you is one of the riot squad doing another check. Each POW’s door is opened and closed aggressively. The riot squad trying to intimidate us as soon as they come onto our wing on Roe 4 to start their daily shift. They have been on our wing since May.

I get up, start to do some exercise and walk the 5 paces up and down the cell. Outside on the landing I hear the cleaners with their shovels, brushes and the wet/dry Hoovers making that dull droning noise. They’re cleaning up the mess from last night and they’ll be on the wing all day cleaning all day. The time is 8.30am.I walk up and down the cell waiting for the door to open and get my breakfast. You can wait from 9am to 11am depending on whether the Riot Squad have to forcibly strip one of our comrades before he goes to court. My last meal was at 4pm yesterday and I’m hoping I’ll get some warm water for a nice cup of tea. At last the door opens and four Riot Squad are standing around my door. I am handed a box containing two Weetabix, a half pint of milk, and I get my cup filled with water for tea but it’s lukewarm, again! The Riot Squad are dressed in white disposable boiler suits, helmets, boots and belt with baton etc. these are the same people who forcibly strip us, that hand us our breakfast at the cell door.

The cell door opens again. It’s 10:15am. ‘Phone!’ one of the Riot Squad grunts. I lift my gallon jar which we have to fill daily and use for drinking water and step out onto the landing. One of them searches me while the others stand around me, staring. I am surrounded and marched to the phone where I am locked in. After a few minutes they shout “Time’s up!”, and I step out onto the landing again and searched. Remember now, I am the only prisoner on the landing and I was on my own on the phone, being watched all the time by the Riot Squad and a camera in the phone room. I am surrounded again and marched to the cell. Only one prisoner is allowed onto the landing at a time, surrounded by four Riot Squad.

It’s 11:25am, the cell door opens again. “Shower!” the screw grunts. I step out onto the landing. I am searched again while my towel, boxers, socks and bar of soap (these are the only items we are allowed to bring to the showers) are thoroughly searched. I am again surrounded, marched to the showers and locked in. when finished, I have to wait to get out and I am searched again. These searches consist of arms spread out and searched, from the wrist to the shoulders, then around the neck, ribs and down to the waist, legs and ankles. Most time you are grabbed aggressively and searched. My stuff was searched again. I am surrounded and marched back to the cell and locked in. some days you won’t get a shower or phone call, it depends if the Riot Squad let you out for it or not. POWs with children at school only get to talk to them at the weekend for a few minutes.

Locked in the cell now, waiting for 12 noon lunch. The door flies open, I am handed a box and the door slams quickly shut. A slight exaggeration as I see no beef! I only have a few minutes to eat this and the door opens again for exercise. If you haven’t eaten it, too bad, it will have to do until after exercise. I step onto the landing again, searched aggressively again, pulling at my collar and ripping up my trouser leggings, tearing the hairs off my legs as foes this with his latex gloves. Pure sectarian hatred, just staring me in the eyes. I don’t flinch; I just stare straight through him. I am surrounded again and marched out to the exercise yard. The only thing you are allowed to take to the yard is tobacco if you smoke. We get roughly one and a half hours exercise. It’s great to get some fresh air and exercise. We are locked in a cage – it’s like a large birdcage with the roof and sides double layered with a thick wire mesh. This is the only time during the day that we get to talk to each other. Then when the times up, we are brought one at a time out of the yard, searched again, marched back to the cell and locked up again until tomorrow.

Back in the cell, it’s 2:05pm and it is time to start the daily ritual of ‘mixing’ – this is done in a small blue ‘pot’ and you have to stir your urine and excrement until it is in liquid form so it will go out the door easier. The screws have blocked the doors on the outside twice (now with rubber and steel) but where there’s a will, there’s a way. No matter what they do, we always counteract it. So you finish mixing and let it sit brewing. Any rubbish or papers go out the windows. Outside’s a mess, inside’s a mess, cleaners going non-stop all day – cleaning cells, cleaning landings and outside has to be cleaned as well.
It’s 3:20pm and a screw opens the door and says “Duty Governor to see you. Any requests or complaints?” I just stare at them both and he slams the door shut. They get the same from the other 13 lads as well. I do some reading until the dinner comes around. It’s 4:05pm and the door opens - Riot Squad are standing there with a food carton and an apple. I get my cup filled with water, lukewarm again. No words are spoken at the door, and it shuts as quickly as it opens. The food is half cooked sausages, a few spuds, some peas and an oil-like substance – gravy. I balance the carton on my knees and eat while I stare out the window at all the grey mesh and razor-wire. I glance around the cell at the corner where all the rotten bits of food and stuff are lying. No clean knives or forks here, or washing of hands. I haven’t even basic things like a mirror. We are locked in the cells for over 22 hours per day. It’s 4:30 pm and I won’t see anyone else until tomorrow.

It’s 6:40pm now and I look out into the darkness at the high grey razor wire – fences all around me, and I wonder how Marian is getting on? All on her own in isolation, not having anyone to talk to, or go for a walk with. We are lucky here, having each other, when Marian has to go through each day by herself. The only time she sees a friendly face is during her one visit a week – which is only for the guts of an hour. I know she is strong, has been in worse situations before and has beaten it.
As the night creeps in, my mind wanders and I think of my wife, my two wee children and all my family and friends. I know they are 100% behind me just like all the families and friend of all the POWs here on Roe 4. I am in cell 11 where a few months ago, our friend Harry Fitzsimons was brutally beaten and tortured for roughly 20 minutes. We were all locked in our cells during his ordeal. To hear this going on while you are locked behind a door is a terrible feeling. Anger, frustration, and you can’t help or do anything, all the while hoping the person getting the beating will be OK. Then have to sit in a visit and see Harry’s family crying at the shape the Riot Squad had left him…

Then just last week Kevin Murphy came in and wasn’t on our wing one day until he was brought to court and he wasn’t needed at all. Just and excuse to forcibly strip search him. He was pulled by the head up and down the cell by the Riot Squad who forced the clothes off him. That night he said he felt as though he had been in a car crash, his body aching all over. That was his welcome from the screws to Roe 4. At resent between us we have endured over 90 forced strip searches and with trials approaching this will increase rapidly. Colin Duffy’s trial is just over a week away, and with him having to endure 2 strips a day, that’s 10 forced strips per week, and a trial expected to last between 2 - 3 months. Colin could be faced with being forcibly stripped between 80 and 120 times over the duration of his trial. Brendan McConville, John Paul Wootton, Kevin Nolan and Gerard McManus will be facing a similar amount of forced strips as their trials also approach.

With thoughts like these going through your mind, it makes you feel very angry and sad at the suffering POWs have to go through but we are strong, determined and unstoppable in our protest to end strip searching and the criminalisation of Republican prisoners in Maghaberry Gaol. The following men are making a stand; Kevin Nolan, Gerard McManus, Kevin Murphy, Brian Sheridan, Brian Cavlan, Colin Duffy, Harry Fitzsimons, Dominic Dynes, Joe Barr, Sean McConville, John Paul Wootton, Mark McGuigan, Brendan McConville, and myself, DD McLaughlin.

Victory to the POWs

Óglach Kevin "Kiddo" Murray commemoration - Dundalk

2011-11-14T16:11:00.000-08:00

Kevin "Kiddo" Murray commemoration

2011-11-12T02:55:00.000-08:00

Óglach Kevin "Kiddo" Murray 10th anniversary commemoration,Sunday 13th November,St Patricks cemetery,Dundalk.Please assemble 1.30pm at Lisdoo carpark for march to graveside.All welcome.

32csm statement on Healthy living centre attack

2011-11-11T15:57:00.000-08:00

On behalf of the 32csm we wish to totally condemn the attack on the Healthy Living Centre last night.

It is our view that such an attack only serves to undermine and confuse the genuine grievances felt by those who have a major problems with PSNI involvement and behaviour in republican areas.

Such attacks both undermine and adversely affect already meagre services and resources available to our community and provide cynical politicians an excuse to issue spurious allegations against organisations such as ours.

As an organisation our representatives have,this morning,spoken to Seamus Heaney and assured him of our position.

Seamus has accepted the validity of our concerns and welcomed our assurances on the specifics of this attack.

Our organisation will continue to represent the concerns of our community but call on anyone who shares these concerns to desist from the type of attack witch occurred last night.

32csm statement on the poppy

2011-11-11T10:07:00.000-08:00

The 32CSM has been monitoring the rise of what Channel 4 presenter Jon Snow has labelled "poppy fascism" with great concern and interest. The poppy, which is the symbol promoted by the Royal British legion to remember Britain's war dead has now become ubiquitous across TV shows and shows such as X factor now include the wearing of it in their contracts. It is promoted as a symbol of remembrance, a neutral gesture devoid of political undertones. This couldn't be further from the truth. Despite much of the focus surrounding the issue being centred on the pointless slaughter of working class men during WW1 the poppy commemorates all those who died for the British empire. This includes the mercenaries killed by the flying columns at Kilmichael and Crossbarry, the Paras at Warrenpoint etc. It also includes those killed by the resistance forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, two countries subjected to brutal occupations where civilians have been tortured and murdered by the British army. The poppy is a celebration of the legacy of Imperialism and colonialism, a legacy that continues today and that has caused much suffering around the world. The 32CSM urges all Republicans to make a dignified stand against this symbol and to spread the true meaning of it to your Friends and neighbours. This "Remembrance Sunday" spare a minutes silence and thought for the victims of Imperialism here and abroad.

Oglach Patsy Duffy Wreath Laying ceremony - Sunday 27th Nov

2011-11-07T10:59:00.000-08:00

A wreath laying ceremony in honour of Oglach Patsy Duffy will take place at 2.00pm, Derry city cemetery on Sunday 27th November.

Below follows a tract from the Pat Finucane centre's website written by Patsy's daughter outlining the circumstances surrounding Patsy's assassination.

9. Testimony of Tina Duffy

Derry 1978, Patsy Duffy, 50

On 24 November 1978 my father, Patsy Duffy, was shot dead by undercover British soldiers.
My father entered a house on Maureen Avenue that was being used by the IRA to keep weapons. My father went to the house to inspect these weapons, which were locked in a wardrobe in an upstairs room. The house was being staked-out by undercover British soldiers - the SAS. The SAS had been in the house for two days.
As soon as my father entered the upstairs room the soldiers opened fire; he was hit by 14 bullets. The soldiers claimed that they fired at him from outside the room.
However, the forensic evidence states that he had been shot in the chest at close range by two bullets. All the other shots were fired from behind.
The wardrobe where the weapons were kept was locked when the police arrived at the scene and my father was unarmed.
My father could have been arrested instead of being executed. He was unarmed and did not pose a threat to anyone.
There was no proper investigation by the RUC and no soldier was ever prosecuted with his killing.

All welcome to attend.

POW Picket - Sat 5th Nov - Free Derry Corner

2011-10-31T12:06:00.000-07:00

A POW Whiteline picket will be held this Saturday 5th November, Free Derry Corner at 2.00pm.

Generic POW posters provided and all relevant POW posters and banners welcome.

Implement the August 2010 agreement in Full!

Humanitarian Crisis!

2011-10-30T06:11:00.000-07:00

IRA Explain Why They Bombed United Kingdom City of Culture Offices

2011-10-26T01:38:00.000-07:00

The IRA has admitted bombing two banks in Northern Ireland as well as the UK City of Culture office in Derry, and has warned that it will continue to target economic interests.

In a statement to the Guardian laced with anti-capitalist rhetoric, the IRA said the bombings and future targeting of the banking system were its response to bankers' "greed" and were meant "to send out the message that while the Irish national and class struggles are distinct, they are not separate".

The attacks and the language used in attempting to justify them appeared designed to tap into the widespread public loathing of the banks on both sides of the Irish border.

The republican dissident group was unapologetic about bombing the office of the UK City of Culture 2013 in Derry last week. It said the office was a symbolic target because the City of Culture award to Derry underpinned British rule.

In its most bellicose warning yet to the banks on both sides of the Irish Sea and the border, the IRA said: "The IRA has recently carried out a number of bomb attacks on the banking establishment.

"Such attacks are an integral part of our strategy of targeting the financial infrastructure that supports the British government's capitalist colonial system in Ireland. The impetus to carry out this type of attack is directly linked to pressure from working-class communities in Ireland as a whole.

"At a grassroots level, working-class communities are suffering most from the effects of cuts to essential services and poverty is now endemic. Families who have lost income as a result of the financial crisis – caused by the bankers – are being intimidated and some are being evicted from their homes."

The organisation added that "the ruling class of bankers and politicians are disconnected from the consequences of their disastrous policies and decisions".

In May, masked men threw a holdall containing a device into Santander's branch in Derry city centre. In August, a bomb was thrown into Santander in Hill Street, Newry. A Real IRA bomb caused major damage to a branch of the Ulster Bank in Derry last year.

The group attempted to link the banks to the Police Service of Northern Ireland. "In the six counties, the effective power of the system is vested in heavily armed PSNI units who, ultimately, enforce bank repossessions of homes, vehicles, etc," it said. "The PSNI is not a police force, it is a political militia and a social control tool designed to protect the interests of the British establishment whether financial or political."

In September last year, the IRA had issued a warning that banks and bankers could be targeted.

As well as the attack in Derry's Guildhall Square last week, a bomb was left there on 12 October last year. The organisation predicted such incidents in the runup to Derry becoming a City of Culture in 15 months' time.

The IRA statement said: "The IRA has also carried out bombing operations against the so-called UK City of Culture offices in Derry city centre. It should be obvious that our objection is focused on the political exploitation of Derry's name and culture. Republicans view this charade as an elaboration of the well-choreographed 'peace process' which resulted in former IRA personnel serving as British ministers.

"This time, the whole nationalist community is expected to join in celebrations of their place within the United Kingdom and thereby realise the Thatcherite policy of regarding the six counties as being 'as British as Finchley'. Expressions of Irish identity within the context of 2013 will be effectively 'licensed' by the organisers under the banner UK City of Culture."

The group added: "The timing of the UK City of Culture is linked to the economic crisis: cash-strapped businesses naturally follow the carrot of increased revenue in 2013, politicians under pressure to produce jobs are totally compliant, anyone who objects is smeared or labelled a 'dissident'. The goodwill of our communities is being held to ransom, critical thinking is seen as dangerous, whole communities are being encouraged to adopt a herd mentality. The IRA will continue to challenge this; resistance will continue."

The bombing of the City of Culture office caused outrage throughout Derry and beyond, with hundreds demonstrating against the attack.

A IRA representative also told the Guardian that the Sinn Féin deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, was under no physical threat. McGuinness, a candidate for the Irish presidency, has claimed his life has been under threat from republican dissidents in recent years. "Why would we turn him into a so-called martyr?" the IRA representative said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oct/25/real-ira-admits-attacks-banks

32csm condemn latest recruitment attempt by shadowy agencies

2011-10-25T02:42:00.000-07:00

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement have been made aware of more approaches by MI5/Special branch who have been actively targeting vulnerable members of society in an attempt to recruit them as Informers.

The following draft was given to the 32csm by a young woman currently being treated for emotional and psychological issues and the 32csm believe she has been deliberately targeted due to her present condition.

“I was stopped on the Kesh road in Fermanagh on the way to the hairdressers on my own about 8 weeks ago. When I approached a checkpoint the cops said this is no ordinary traffic stop we are here waiting for you especially. This is to do with dissident republican activity and I asked what’s it got 2 do with me then. He said I could help them with information on my husband and two other Donegal men. I told them I hadn’t a clue what they were talking about and he said oh I think you do, the people you’re going to this wedding with are dangerous men. He told me he was going to put my husband away for a long time and I would need their help then. He then pulled out a wad of money and said we can help you. He even offered to pay for the hairdo which he knew I was going for without me telling him. I said i wanted nothing to do with it. They asked me could I spare 10 minutes to go away with them and they would take of uniforms to make me more comfortable. I told them no chance so he gave me his card with phone number and asked me to go to the phone box outside hairdressers and ring him. he would be watching for me. When I got to kesh I was that scared I went into the butchers as I wouldn’t use my own phone and rang my husband, he then came up and took me home. Three weeks later I got a phone call from a man who identified himself as the man on the kesh road. I hung up on him. He rang again one week later and told me he could help me as it was coming up to Christmas. I hung up again, since then I’ve had 5 missed calls and a text saying. Offer still stands... if u want, we can help you. I’d also like to add I suffer with my nerves and severe depression and I don’t think it fair these people harassing me.”

The 32 County Sovereignty movement commend this young lady for bringing this to the public domain at the earliest opportunity.

The tactics of the British crown forces increasing appear to be the active targetting of families and other innocents and should be condemned by all.

We would also ask that if anyone is approached by these shadowy agencies to immediately contact a representative of the 32csm, the media and legal representation.

POW Whiteline picket,2pm Saturday 22nd October, Derry

2011-10-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

POSTPONED:

Please note: The POW picket due to take place on Saturday 22nd October has had to be postponed due to unforseen circumstances.A new date will be added at the earliest opportunity.

Derry Beir bua October

2011-10-21T06:11:00.000-07:00

Click on images for larger size

Protesters Locked Out of 'Public DPP Meeting'

2011-10-20T04:44:00.000-07:00

Members of the 32CSM and the public have been refused entry to a 'public' District Policing Partnership (DPP) meeting in Derry City. Although members of the 32CSM had gathered a half hour before the meeting was due to begin, a council official stated that the meeting was full and that no-one was allowed to enter the building for “health and safety reasons.” When asked, how many people were attending the meeting, the council official refused to answer.

This was clear and planned attempt to keep protesters out of a so called ‘public meeting’. A public meeting is not public if no-one is allowed to enter the building at the designated time. The meeting also took place at 10.30am on a weekday morning when most people would be unable to attend.

British Police officers chained the gates surrounding the building, and formed a ring of steel around the local government offices where the meeting was taking place. The offices were surrounded by heavily armed members of the Tactical Support Group (TSG.) The local DPP has already admitted that the TSGs are beyond its remit.

One protester was arrested for entering a ‘secured’ area, a senior PSNI officer realising the stupidity of the arresting officer, then un-arrested him and led him through a PSNI cordon.

Protesters had gathered to highlight ongoing human rights abuses against Republican families. Some of these human rights abuses have been carried out against children. Children have been stopped and searched whilst travelling to school and in some incidences have had their school bag searched. In several incidents children have wet themselves as guns were pointed at their parents. Women have also been targeted by the PSNI, in one case a pregnant woman was swerved at by an oncoming PSNI car whilst driving in her car with her children. The so called ‘community officers’ then laughed at her as they passed.

Recently, over 200 people attended a meeting in the Creggan to highlight abuses carried out against them by the PSNI. This meeting was organised by several local community groups including Traix and the Creggan Neighbourhood Partnership. One of these community groups released a statement condemning PSNI behaviour in the Derry area.

The DPP’s are a toothless tiger that serve one purpose, the propping up of the PSNI as credible ‘civic policing service’ in nationalist areas. Nothing could be further from the truth.

2011-10-19T03:58:00.000-07:00

Statement

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement wholeheartedly condemns the attacks on the residents of Dale farm by the police this morning. There has been a blatant attempt by the right wing media to present this issue as a matter of legality. This ignores the wider context of this eviction being a gross violation of human rights and an endorsement of ethnic cleansing. Bigotry against travellers is widespread in the media with statements being printed that would never pass an editorial desk if they were directed against different ethnic minorities. The 32CSM has continuously supported the rights of the residents to live in a peaceful co-existence with the community and we do not accept that the Dale farm residents have done anything to shatter this. The eviction of families should resonate with Irish republicans. Throughout Irish history, both in the distant and recent past we have seen pogroms against our own community, pogroms instigated and supported by the state. We will stand in solidarity with those finding themselves under the cosh of a right wing Tory administration that is determined to attack all those who do not fit into their idea of what society should look like. We call on all republicans to support the residents of Dale Farm and to highlight their struggle.

Beir Bua

Statement ends

Reject the PSNI charm offensive DPP Protest 10.30am Thursday

2011-10-18T13:14:00.000-07:00

Catholic schools throughout the six counties have become the next in line for the PSNI charm offensive, in conjunction with Britain’s normalization policy in Ireland. Throughout the last few months, the PSNI have been present at, have partaken in and facilitated multiple ‘community events’, this has often taken place without the consultation of parents, many of whom were horrified to find out who was facilitating these ‘fun days’ for children. Anyone with an ounce of sense can see that this is not merely a result of graciousness on behalf of the PSNI, community workers or the Stormont assembly. These events and the presence of armed security personnel in schools is a result of an extensive attempt by those whose wage packet is designated by Britain, to convince schoolchildren and youth that the PSNI are a legitimate, normal police force.

This is despite video footage, pictures and firsthand accounts of PSNI behaviour toward children, students and their families and friends. Children have been kept out of their school; political games involving the PSNI have become seemingly more important than the value of learning. These invites by schools come despite figures in late 2009 revealing that children as young as three have been stopped and searched by the PSNI, almost 2,300 under 16s (an average of six every day) were officially recorded and those figures included 27 who were aged nine and under. The youngest was just three years old. Unless these institutions of education beg to differ with the official statistics, then they must understand that they are inviting an organization which carries out and condones child abuse into an environment in which children should feel safe.

However, it would be naive to believe that these decisions and invites originate from within these schools, local politicians and so called community leaders undoubtedly have their oar in on. As seen after a meeting in Creggan where an estimated 200 people attended to voice their grievances regarding the actions of the PSNI, a meeting which was held within walking distance of a school which has recently hosted the PSNI, these decisions are very much influenced by constitutional nationalists in the affected areas. After the meeting, the community workers present were called to a meeting with nationalist politicians where they were warned to remain silent on the issue or face losing funding. Undoubtedly many individuals within schools and who are partaking in these PSNI PR stunts are not willing participants, rather they feel it is a necessity for the sake of their careers and their very lifestyle.

The only way we can move forward for the sake of children, learning and for the good of all communities, is to reject the PSNI and one day we may have a democratic, legitimate and fair police service. These child abusers and bigots and those who promote them rely on blackmail and harassment as part of their political agenda must be boycotted and shown that their brand of policing is not worth a fraction of the community spirit which their behaviour evokes.

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DPP Protest..Derry city council offices..10.30am Thursday 20th October..We ask all concerned with the human rights abuses and antics of the RUC/PSNI to attend

MI5 Try to Recruit Fermanagh Man

2011-10-15T06:44:00.000-07:00

The 32CSM in Fermanagh would like to take this opportunity to condemn the actions of the PSNI and British security services in their recent attempts to harass and victimise a young Fermanagh Republican.

The young man, who does not wish to be named, comes from the Lisnaskea area. Over the past six months he has been stopped and searched a total of 71 times by the PSNI under the terrorism act.

On each occasion he was subjected to a full body search. When stopped in a friend’s car, the car and all the occupants would be searched also.
The most worrying development however came last week when the young republican was travelling to Liverpool to visit relatives. He was stopped and held by Special Branch and M15 operatives in Belfast International Airport for over half an hour, and questioned about his association with named republicans in Fermanagh and Donegal. During this time he was asked to gather information on the individuals’ movements and associates.

The young republican refused and asked could he leave as he would miss his flight. The mood in the room changed quickly and the young man was threatened with arrest and a subsequent jail sentence while being accused of things he knew nothing about.

After it was clear the man had no idea what they were talking about, he was left continue on his way with the warning that he would see them again. The man was offered £500 pound cash to start with, and it was said that there will be more to follow if he co-operated.

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement would like to commend the brave actions of this young Lisnaskea man and would like to thank him for coming forward with this worrying information. Attempting to recruit the young man as an informer showed a total disregard for his safety, and life.
Anyone who experiencing pressure such as this from the PSNI or MI5 is asked to contact your local 32CSM Cumann so they can highlight and challenge what is happening.

Beir Bua.

Anti-Fascist Action Ireland speaking tour

2011-10-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

Anti-Fascist Action Ireland presents... -Fascist Action Ireland presents...

‘Autonomous Nationalism’, the EDL, Breivik’s Norway massacre:

Recent developments in European fascism

From black-bloc autonomist nationalists in Germany to 'third
millennium fascist' squatters in Italy to suit-wearing Nazis in Sweden, the last twenty years has seen huge developments and shifts in theNeo-fascist scene.

No longer can Nazis be simply identified by shaved heads, Swastikas and steel-capped boots. Some are even turning to Gramsci, Lenin and international anti-imperialist struggles for inspiration.

Paul Hull, a veteran anti-fascist and trade unionist of over ten years in Sweden will discuss the evolution of Neo-Nazi theories and tactics in Northern Europe and will offer suggestions on how the modern militant anti-fascist movement can adapt to these changes.

Dates:

Mon Oct 17, Dublin, 7pm
Connolly Books (43 East Essex St.)

Tues Oct 18, Belfast, 7:30pm
Fresh Claim Cafe (48 King St.)

Wed Oct 19, Derry, 8:00pm
Sanindos (Water St.)

Sat Oct 22, London, 5:00pm
Anarchist Bookfair at Queen Mary, University Of London

For more information, please email afa@ireland.com or visit us at
facebook.com/afaireland

International day of action for Irish Republican POWs

2011-10-10T02:24:00.000-07:00

End Internment – Free Martin Corey and Marian Price!
On October 8th 2011, in different countries, a day of action for Irish Political Prisoners is being held. By picketing, leafleting, postering and painting, we Internationalists from abroad, wish to express our solidarity with our Republican comrades in Ireland and our hostility towards English imperialism.
Little is known about it, but in Ireland in 2011, there is still revolutionary democratic resistance against partition of the country and British rule. The Irish Republican struggle continues, against all odds. In the colonial entity of the six occupied counties in the North of Ireland, the British occupation is fought and the false peace is challenged, as well as the conservative status quo in the neo-colonial entity of the Irish Free State in the South.
The only answer of the British state machine to this resistance is an increase of repression.
Political Prisoners are jailed indefinitely without any reason. Martin Corey and Marian Price, who are Republican activists arrested in the 1970's and later released, are once again being held by the British state because they didn't betray their political beliefs. This vengeance of the colonial power is used as a Sword of Damocles threatening the hundreds of former prisoners of war who would dare to keep their politics upfront. Martin Corey and Marian Price are kept as hostages to impress and frighten political activists. This is nothing else than the reintroduction of internment.
We demand the immediate release of Martin Corey and Marian Price! We demand the end of selective internment!
Irish Prisoners of War are also victims of maltreatments by the prison authorities and wardens in the jail of Maghaberry, under the supervision of the ruling circles of the British State and their puppets in Stormont. In very harsh conditions, they struggle to demand political status won by the man of 1981 and signed away by their former comrades with the 1998-agreement. They were cheated by the prison regime after a previous protest, but they are not disheartened, and with the support of republicans outside the jail, they continue their just struggle. Like previous generations of Republicans in the H-Blocks they resist criminalisation and brutality with the only shield they have, their will and their body.
Irish Republicans are not criminals, but freedom fighters and revolutionaries!
We demand the full implementation of the agreement of August 2010 and the restoration of a Political Status for Irish Prisoners of War!
The fight for Irish freedom and against imperialism and reaction is just and should be supported by all honest and progressive people worlwide.
We salute the struggle of the Republican Prisoners held in Maghaberry, Portlaoise and Lithuania and pledge our full support.
Victory to the Irish Republican struggle, inside and outside the jails!

Marian Price Interned! Free Marian Price!

2011-10-03T16:25:00.000-07:00

Derry POW Whiteline Picket, Saturday 8th October 2.00pm.

2011-10-02T18:19:00.000-07:00

A POW whiteline PICKET will be held on Shipquay street,Derry at 2.00pm on Saturday 8th October 2011 in solidarity with the POWs who are still being battered,stripped and violated by state sponsored sectarian henchmen within Maghaberry gaol.

They're in there for us!
Be out there for them!

All welcome and all relevant POW posters and banners welcome.

Anti Internment/Free Marian Price march,Dublin

2011-10-02T06:57:00.000-07:00

Photos from Whiteline picket 24th September

2011-10-02T06:23:00.000-07:00

MARTIN RAFFERTY: “THEY WILL NOT BREAK US”

2011-09-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

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Martin Rafferty, 32csm, speaks openly on the internment of Marian Price. A timetravel inside the Republican Movement and what prospect for a united Ireland

How’s Marian Price?

Gerry – Marian’s husband – was visiting yesterday, and said her spirits are high, but he could see strain on her. Given the fact the all studies show how solitary confinement is the worse form of torture within jail, this is not surprising. But Marian is strong and an inspiration to us all and we know no matter what they try they will not break her.

Republicans took to the streets all over Ireland with passion and dignified protests. What are the next initiative to support the immediate release of Marian Price?
At the moment a lot of our energies have been putting into wider protest within Maghaberry but we plant to incorporate the protest for Marian within her framework. Obviously we do not want to go into much detail. But along with the white line pickets and poster campaigns, we will be embarking on other actions.

The only female detainee in a male prison in Europe. Is there any jurisprudential action to bring her case to the international European human rights court (EcthR) ?
Giving the response from Hillary Clinton, the British administrations and Church leaders to the incarceration of an Iranian woman in an all male jail in Iran, last year, you would think that morally, never mind legally, the case would be won, meaning that is totally wrong to have any woman held in these conditions. But Marian’s legal team are exploring the legality of the British actions. Not just holding her in an all males jail, but also the circumstances of her arrest and the revoking of her license.

Marian has declared that “the ongoing policy of criminalization of the republican struggle has intensified in the last few years; as it is always the case, the republican prisoners in Maghaberry jail being at the coal face of this; well tried but failed policy’’ (see letter on the picture). How would you comment?

In 1981 Thatcher tried a criminalization policy implying that all republican actions where deemed to be a crime and all us republicans where nothing more than criminals.

The policy failed then, and today the Brits feel that if they get former comrades to criminalize the republican struggle today, they may somehow succeed where Thatcher failed. No matter who is pronouncing the words: Thatcher, Cameron, Ford, McGuinness or Kelly; Republicans never were criminals and today it remains the same. As long as there is an occupied part of Ireland there will be Republicans willing to oppose it and given that 75% of Irish people voted for a United Ireland and the British responded by creating a Six Counties State, it is not surprising that today there are still republicans willing to stand and defend the right of Irish people to self-determination.

Her license immediately revoked despite a pardon conferred in the 1981. Can you see the possibility that the pardon she received for her offences prior to 1974 could be restored during next month hearing?

The toll the British State is using at the moment is one of fear and intimidation against all republicans, active and no-active; the no-active republicans, most of whom have life sentences hanging over their heads, in the form licenses, have been warned not to re-engage in any form of republican activity or they too will have their license suspended. In this context the British will do everything in their power to keep Marian in jail. Not because she is a threat to society or is engaging in any activity to justify the treatment she’s receiving, but as a warning to others to keep their heads down.

Interned, marginalized and criminalized. How far is the battle in order to restore the political status?

As it happened in 1981, the British have miscalculated the mood of Republican community. In ‘81 they were told by constitutional nationalists and securocrats that the republican movement was on its knees and almost defeated. At that time they thought the criminalization policy would defeat the republican movement: they were wrong then, and today, as in ’81, the Brits have been told that the Republican Movement is almost defeated and they are again trying to roll out the policy of criminalization inside and outside the jail. But instead to having the effect of demoralizing and breaking the Republican Movement, it has once again galvanized and spurred the Republican Movement on.

During a recent commemoration of Brendan Hughes in County Louth, Martin Galvin prayed Republicans, all Republicans today, to forge a unity and strategy which can break through once more, and get the struggle back on the path of the united and free Ireland which “unrepentant Fenians and so many others sacrificed for and so much to win for us”. Can you see today that opportunity for a shared or a single platform with Republican Network for Unity?
Throughout history of Ireland, and further afield, the British have engaged in a tactic of “divide and conquer”, and today a lot of energy has been put into this tactic. In 1974, during the Sinn Fein split, there were running battle in the streets between former comrades and lives were lost. The Brits and their agents, have been trying to create a similar situation today by releasing misinformation and trying to foment confrontation between different groups. We all acknowledge we are struggling for the same goal and we will not be manipulated by anyone, British or former comrades, into any kind of confrontation with each other. Today we see the hemorrhaging of Sinn Fein and understandably a lot of the people leaving the party do not feel confortable joining with other groupings just yet. We understand and respect this but we are able to have a working relationship with them on matters relating to the jails and other issues. We also have a good working relationship with Republican Network for Unity and we have learnt that if you impose people to accept your interpretation and position on issues, then we will always be divided.

Do you believe in a referendum? And in the perspective of a referendum on national unity, how will the Irish Republican strategies change?
In my view we cannot trust either the British or Government in the free State regarding any form of referendum at the moment. Giving the Irish Government attitude to the Maastricht treaty, when they held the referendum and did not get the answer they wanted the first time, subsequently engaged in an vicious campaign of lies and threats in order to achieve they outcome they wanted. I do not think they have any credibility in organizing a referendum that would remove them from well paid jobs and powerful influences.

Some republicans are asking the “equality of arrests” in regard to the case of recent riots in loyalists and republican areas as well as the use of plastic bullets in England, in line with the “50/50 formula” that can be considered the dorsal spine of nationalist revisionism. Dup’s Nigel Dodds, in the aftermath of Ardoyne ‘s riots, called the people opposing the Orange Order parade through the district as Republicans, while Sinn Fein called them “thugs”. How do you see the issue in the wider Republican Movement and what are the differences today between being a Republican and a Nationalist and when does it become a thug?
Regarding the recent events of the marching season, and the actions of the police, it is a fact that no matter how hard they try to paper over the cracks, the cracks will always come through. James Connolly said that until the constitutional question has been addressed there will never be equality. Be it in housing, employment, administration of justice, or any other area of a “normal society”, the things will never be dealt with until the outside interference has been removed. In the Six Counties, sectarianism, equality and injustice are all symptoms of the problem and not the problem itself. People tend to forget that the police role here is to uphold the State and we expect nothing else from them but what we have seen over the marching season. As regarding Kelly and Dodds, as long as there will be Republicans, there will also be people trying to criminalize them. Michael Collins said of the De Valera that he was an illegitimate republican, De Valera said the same of Tom Barry and Gerry Kelly says it of today Republicans. In order to hide the fact that Sinn Fein has now become a constitutional nationalist party, they have to try and discredit Republicans who are engaged to opposing the British presence, be it in Westminster or Stormont.

Sometimes it seems a war under the pillows with Republicans absolutely protagonists over their divisions. “An Irish disease” has been called this chronically split. Unrolled by intelligence and counterintelligence, it appears that the only defeated are Republicans themselves. Are “dossieraggio” and agitprop activities influencing this moment in time of the Irish Question?
The British have always used the tool of informers not only to gather intelligence but also to lead the republican movement in the direction of their liking. As can be seen today through the cases of Stakeknife and Denis Donaldson, they have perfected this art and they are continuing with this strategy. The recent building of the new MI5 headquarters just outside Belfast (Holywood) shows their intent. It is estimated that have hundreds of plain-clothes agents working flat out trying to recruit informers into the ranks. I myself have been approached three times in the recent past with offers of money or threats to my life and my family to make me become an informer. I am more than confident that this practice is widespread and unfortunately some people are giving in to the threats. I spent three years in jail due to a paid informer who engaged in the activities of the State provocateur.

Pearse said- “If we today are fighting for something either greater than or less than the thing our fathers fought for, either our fathers did not fight for freedom at all or we are not fighting for freedom”.
Martin Rafferty, who owns today that inheritance?
Today Republicans, from wherever organization or grouping, are Republicans. We all identified that the problem is the same today as it was seven hundred years ago and until the foreign interference has been removed from our country all the other problems cannot be addressed. As a republican, if you believe this, then it doesn’t matter who holds the mantra as long as the ideal stays the same.

Statement from the Family and Friends of Maghaberry POWs support group.

2011-09-16T03:24:00.000-07:00

We the family and the friends of the republican prisoners in Maghaberry gaol reaffirm our total support for the men on protest brought about by the refusal of the gaol admin and NIO to honour the agreement signed by both parties and the independent facilitation group on 12th August 2010.

We understand totally why the prisoners believe they had no choice but to resume the protest that lead to the August agreement.
It became clear to the prisoners from day one of the agreement that the POA and some within the administration and NIO were totally apposed to it.
The POA in particular refused to implement the day to day workings of the agreement.
Backed up by some in the administration and NIO they slowly ground the agreement into the sand.

The prisoners repeatedly tried to work a way out of the logjam with the administration and NIO but felt that due to numerous issues but in particular the failure to end controlled movement and the introduction of forced strip searches that they had no choice but to resume the protest.

The prisoners have made it totally clear that the full implementation of the agreement is the only thing that will bring the protest to an end and we stand 100% behind them and call on everyone to support them in their fight to achieve their demands for basic human rights, dignity and respect.

We reject totally the comments made by David Ford that there is no breaking of the agreement by the jail administration, and call on him to read the report by his own staff that he commissioned after the breakdown of the agreement.
This document which is in his possession could end this protest today and we call on him to act now.

Martin Rafferty
Family and Friends of Maghaberry POWs support group,

POW Protest - September 24th 2pm, Shipquay st, Derry

2011-09-16T03:11:00.000-07:00

A POW Whiteline picket will take place at 2.00pm Saturday 24th September on Shipquay street,Derry.

We would ask that all those concerned with the Maghaberry torture camp to lend your presence and your voice for the POWs currently suffering physical and mental abuse in Maghaberry.

Generic POW posters will be provided..Relevant POW banners and posters welcome.

Anti Internment/Free Marian Price March, Dublin - 2pm Sat. Oct. 1st

2011-09-12T14:07:00.000-07:00

Marian Price lies in a British gaol following a decision by a British Tory minister to have her interned using draconian legislation .

The strategy of the British government seems to be that they will use and abuse these powers to blackmail all those who hold Republican ideologies to the fore with Marian Price, amongst others as political hostages.

Former POWs are in effect being told that if they dare to voice opposition to the status quo, they can and will suffer the same consequences, where the license they were released under will be withdrawn and returning them to British gaols to serve out the sentences passed upon them by British courts for actions undertaken pre GFA.

The British decry politically motivated arrests throughout the world.

Indeed, following the politically motivated arrest of Femi Peters in Gambia the British home office roundly condemned it stating: " The right to freedom of expression and to freedom of assembly are fundamental to democracy and fundamental freedoms laid down in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights!"

Tell that to Marian!

In Ireland however, the British can, will and are abusing the rights they advocate for others.

They are responsible for the Internment,framing,torture and Human rights abuses of Irish Republicans every day, yet are not taken to task.

Irish Republican POWs are beaten,violated and abused daily, suffer forced strip searching where their clothes are ripped from the bodies in the most brutal way imaginable and subsequently violated by the sectarian prison staff who take great delight in their part of the torture.

Is it somehow now ok that Republican POWs are tortured by the British?

Is it anymore right than it was 30 years ago?

The difference nowadays is that the media have taken a vow of silence for what they may construe the greater good.They restrict their reporting of the ongoing tortures and abuses within Maghaberry gaol,stay silent on the Internment taking place under their noses in an attempt to portray normalisation.

An anti internment/Free Marian Price March will take place in Dublin on Saturday October 1st at 2pm starting at the Garden of Remembrance.

We ask all Republicans who can to attend and say no to the Human rights abuses by the British and the silence surrounding it.

Internment by remand ongoing in o6c.

2011-09-06T16:04:00.000-07:00

The arrest of a Coalisland man, his family home raided and trumped up charges made against him by British Policing in Ireland amount to internment by remand.
Mr Shane Coleman of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement in Tyrone said, “The arrest of Kevin Murphy and the raid on his family home is an increase in the harassment and intimidation suffered by this family over many years.”
“Mr Murphy is another in a long line on the conveyor belt of internment within the corrupt British judicial system in Ireland. Marian Price is another recent example of how the British Government assisted by their lackeys in Stormont deal with republicans who expose the violation of Irish National Sovereignty.”
Continuing Mr Coleman said, “I call on all Republicans to stand firm against this attack by the discredited PSNI on the republican and Nationalist community and to send a firm message to the establishment in Stormont and London that this failed tactic of internment by remand will fail again. It would appear they have learned nothing from the past 40 years and have no alternative but to repeat history with their failed policies in Ireland.
There is only one solution and that is for the British Government to relinquish their illegal sovereign claim to part of the Irish Nation and bring an end to this intimidation and harassment of the Irish people”.

POW Protest this Saturday,Derry - Oppose British state brutality!

2011-09-05T02:42:00.000-07:00

A POW Whiteline picket will take place in Shipquay street, Derry at 2pm on Saturday 10th September.

As Republican POWs in Maghaberry gaol continue to be brutalised,degraded,violated and intimidated on a daily basis by a sectarian establishment who saw fit to renege on an agreement, which had been previously struck to end these sectarian assaults, we would ask all who oppose state sectarian brutality to attend the protest and lend your presence in opposition of the dismantling of basic human rights within Maghaberry gaol.

All relevant banners and posters welcome.

Support the Republican POWs on Protest!

Censorship via Internment! Free Marian Price!

2011-09-05T02:32:00.000-07:00

The political imprisoning of republican Marian Price by British direct ruler Owen Patterson represents an act of utter repression against the Irish people. That an unaccountable British politician can arbitrarily remove an Irish citizen’s freedom in their own country demonstrates clearly, despite recent fawning to the contrary, that we have not entered into a new era of relationships between the two islands. What we are witnessing is an assertion of British sovereignty in Ireland.

It is no coincidence that this repression preceded the royal visit to the Twenty Six County State. Whilst we witnessed the grovelling of the West Brit brigade, falling over themselves to welcome the sectarian monarch, republicans saw clearly the message she brought with her; the Irish are finally in their place.

But more telling was the absolute humiliation that this act bestowed on the Stormont regime. On the very day that the micro ministries were being dished out, most noticeably a ‘justice’ ministry, the real seat of power was exercising itself. The farce was exposed for the puppet regime it is. We now challenge those who advocate that this farce represents a route to a sovereign Ireland to state clearly where they stand on this repressive act? We challenge them to state clearly what powers this farce enables them to undo this massive injustice?

This is the Good Friday Agreement in action. These are the fruits of the so called ‘peace process’ and the flawed thinking of outmanoeuvred former republican leaders. We call on all republicans to work together to fight this injustice. We call for unity and solidarity with republican POW’s as they struggle against repression from within their imprisonment.

The Spirit of Freedom in 10 Brave Men, Long Kesh '81 - by POW DD McLaughlin

2011-08-29T15:09:00.000-07:00

This Poem is Dedicated to the 10 Brave Men who gave the Ultimate Sacrifice in the Gaol Struggle in 1981.
It is Dedicated to all the Blanket Men and to the Women of Armagh Gaol – who all suffered during those gruelling years of Prison Struggle. Also not forgetting the other Hunger Strikers who were prepared to die, and the families of all POWs all during the years of their loved ones being incarcerated in British Gaols and for those incarcerated in other Gaols all over the World.

You all are, and always will be an Inspiration, to us now – who are in another Gaol Struggle. Tiocfaidh ar Lá.

By Damien McLaughlin, Republican prisoner, Maigh g Caibre Gaol, 16th August 2011

Maghaberry POW beir bua (4page) and generic POW leaflet

2011-08-28T05:36:00.000-07:00

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POWs savagely beaten and forcibly strip searched twice.

2011-08-25T07:36:00.000-07:00

Kevin Barry Nolan and Gerard McManus were forcibly strip searched yesterday before leaving Maghaberry for court.They reported that when leaving for court it was the usual rough strip search by the riot squad dressed in boiler suits but that all changed on their return. They were met by the riot squad dressed in full riot gear and when they refused to strip they attacked them.They put them on the ground and brutally removed their clothing, they twisted their arms up their backs and were trailing them around by their beards raining blows on their bodies and all the while shouting (for the benefit of the tape) stop resisting the search. Neither of them resisted the search in any way. When the brutal strip search was over they were ordered to stand up which they refused, the riot squad then attacked them again while they were lying on the floor. They have received injuries and are covered in cuts and bruises. Tensions are high on the wing, the riot squad are taunting the lads and blocking them in when they are being escorted to the phone or for visits. All the POWs have remarked that the screws/riot squad have upped the ante lately and are constantly trying to get an excuse to get stuck into a POW resulting in a number of POWs receiving beatings in this last week.

Sinn Fein Councillor Suspended

2011-08-25T02:41:00.000-07:00

The 32CSM in Derry has learned that a local Sinn Fein Councillor has been suspended by the party in relation to a vicious assault out side a local nightclub. Councillor Colin Kelly was also involved in an assault on a young 32CSM member in March of this year outside a local bar in the City. Kelly was witnessed kicking the 32CSM member in the head after throwing him to the ground. As Kelly was a candidate at the subsequent election Sinn Fein choose to ignore and deny that this assault ever took place.

It is understood that Councillor Kelly carried out a similar attack on a man outside the Metro Bar earlier in the week and is currently suspended from the party.

BBC Report

Sinn Fein councillor in Derry is suspended

A Sinn Fein councillor in Londonderry has been suspended from the party following an allegation of assault.

The councillor who has been suspended is Colin Kelly, who is one of the youngest Sinn Fein public representatives in Northern Ireland.

He is in his 20s and represents the cityside ward on Derry City Council.

Derry Sinn Fein chairperson Andrew McCartney confirmed that Mr Kelly had been suspended following allegations of assault by a member of the public.

Mr McCartney said that Councillor Kelly had been suspended - without prejudice - from participation in all party activity pending any investigation.

The BBC tried to contact Councillor Kelly, but he was unavailable for comment.

The police would not say if any complaint has been made to them.

End the Brutality in Maghaberry! POW Letter on the forced strip search.

2011-08-24T14:26:00.000-07:00

The 1981 Hunger strike saw 10 brave men fast to the death to end the process undertaken by the then British Tory government in their attempt to criminalise Republican POWs with their removal of Political status.

The sacrifice of the 10 and the impact around the world brought about a U Turn by the British government who reintroducted political status thus removing the criminal tag with which they had wanted to brand the Republican volunteers.

Some 30 years later,the status which had been so hard won, has been sold down the river whilst the British take carte blanche in allowing and actively encouraging the brutalisation and violation of Republican POWs within Maghaberry gaol while subtly reintroducing Internment through license revocation.

POWs in Maghaberry are involved in an ongoing protest at the removal of political status and face daily beatings at the hand of sectarian screws in Maghaberry while remand prisoners face 2 forced searches every time they have to make a court appearance.

The forced strip search is a wholly brutal practise designed solely to humiliate the POWs and the agreement reached in August 2010 which was designed to end the practises has been reneged on by the regime and now lies in tatters.

We ask that people who were opposed to the ritual humiliation and brutalisation of Republican POWs while last opposing the removal of political status to lend your voice to the campaign to reinstate it and end the Brutality by the sectarian regime on Irish Republican prisoners.

What follows here is a letter written by Damien "DD" McLaughlin which describes the brutality which is part and parcel of the forced strip search.

Support the Republican POWs on Protest!

Beir Bua!

POW torture in Maghaberry –Letter from D.D Mc Laughlin-Emotive, upsetting & graphic

Hello everyone. I’m just back from the court. I was twice subjected to forced strip searches today. That was my tenth forced strip in the last twelve weeks . I’m also out to court next Tuesday so that will be another two.

Today I was brought to the reception where the search team were waiting and forced into a 3ft x 3ft cubicle by two of them where I refused to strip. They laughed at me and said “He’s ready for it!”

I was then brought to a holding cell and kept in there for about 50 minutes with a governor coming in twice to tell me their so called prison rules. (He could talk all day, I wasn’t for stripping and won’t be at any stage while I’m incarcerated in this place)

All the while outside the cell the riot squad are getting ready. Suddenly the Cell door bursts open and in they come in full riot gear, Helmets, shields, body protection, the works.
They ram the shield into my face, 2 of them grab my arms, another grabs my head, I’m forced to the ground - Arms forced up my back, 2 knees forced into my head to hold it down , 2 knees in the back of my legs… Then another one of them starts to force off my shoes, socks and trousers off. I’m then moved into a forced position so that my boxers are ripped down and my frontal private parts can be seen by them. I’m then forced back into a position where my boxers are completely forced off me and a hand held metal detector is ran over my backside.

At this stage, it’s hard to breathe with their gloves covering my face and mouth. I’m still being held by four of them on the floor, my private parts exposed… Naked! Lying there!
They then grab my boxers and jeans and force them up, hurting me .. leaving my private parts still exposed – They then move me into another awkward position to take my t shirt off… I think my arms are about to break in two ! It’s agony at this stage.. My wrists are just numb... Being twisted the whole time this is going on.. My shirt is now off.. I’m lying now with both my arms are forced up my back towards the roof while the riot squad run out of the cell.. My arms just drop to the floor.. I try my best to get onto my feet using my elbows , trousers hanging off me, boxers still below my private parts.. I’m aching all over !
I try to get dressed as the riot squad stand smirking at me. I just stare back at them. I think of the other things they have done to me in the past.. Forced strips, cut my clothes off, broke my nose, stood on me, forced me into squat positions, forced my mouth open by trying to break my wrist… I could go on!

Well, that’s me on the way to court! As soon as I get to Laganside ( where I’m already an hour late because of the forced strip ) I’m brought straight to the court, cuffed, and haven’t seen my solicitor.. Adjourned again ! That’s me down now to a 6ft x 6ft cell to wait for a few hours.Then I’m brought back to the gaol where I go through the whole strip search ordeal again.

Sitting in my cell now – My wrists, knees, ankles, neck, back, head, shoulders are aching.. One image going through my head is the faces of my friends who were waiting patiently for me to come back.. Colly, Harry, Brendy, Gerard, Kevin … It’s hard to explain the look on their faces but I can tell you that it’s one of the worst feelings in gaol seeing one of your friends coming back from a forced strip search, seeing them in pain !

I would take all of their forced strip searches rather than see them in this agony.. pain .. and I know they would do the same for me.

That’s friendship that won’t be broken !

Well, slan for now, another Republican forcibly strip searched.

D.D McLaughlin, POW, Maghaberry gaol

Oppose British Internment in Ireland! Free Marian Price!

2011-08-24T05:02:00.000-07:00

In 1971, the British Government introduced Internment to incarcerate Irish Republicans for simply believing they held Republican views and ideologies.This was vehemently opposed in Ireland and beyond.
40 years later,Marian Price,amongst others,finds herself a victim of the reintroduction of British Internment and is isolated in an all male British gaol as a result of a decision made directly from Westminster by a British Tory minister to have her summarily incarcerated.
Marian Price has been returned to a British prison for actions of resistance committed as a Provisional IRA volunteer in 1973.The reintroduction of Internment has and is once again being used as a tool by a British government to quell free spech and stifle Human rights.
The actions of British Tory minister Owen Paterson prove, if proof were needed, that the Good Friday agreement has failed, British direct rule is prevelant and the Stormont myth lies exposed.
Oppose British Internment in Ireland! Free Marian Price!

32csm welcome the release of Brendan Lillis

2011-08-18T13:15:00.000-07:00

Statement
The 32 County Sovereignty Movement welcomes the release of Brendan Lillis today. However we are mindful that Brendan's health was allowed to deteriorate for months and that this treatment has left him in a very serious medical condition.

The British government attempted to use Brendan as a guinea pig, a litmus test of republican resolve. The response from all shades of republicans showed that there is a groundswell of support and sympathy for Brendan and the POWs in Maghaberry. We salute the efforts of his partner Roisin who single handedly toured the country raising awareness of his plight and whose tireless efforts were an inspiration to all.

We salute all the 32CSM members for the work they did on behalf of Brendan and we call for the immediate implementation of the agreement for the POWs and republican prisoners protesting in Maghaberry. The abuse of republican prisoners must stop and the regime in Maghaberry changed or Brendan Lillis will not be the last man to suffer in this inhumane system.
Statement ends.

Anti Internment / Free Marian Price March

2011-08-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

POW protest in Derry and Republican campout

2011-08-13T13:55:00.000-07:00

Anti Internment / Implement the Agreement camp.Derry 12th to 14th August

2011-08-11T03:04:00.000-07:00

There will be an Anti Internment / Implement the Agreement camp out starting at 12pm on Friday 12th August at Free Derry corner.

Following on from the Internment of Marian Price, we would ask all who can to participate in the camp out to highlight the ongoing British purge on Republican ideology, which now appears to be punishable by summary incarceration.

The camp out will also be used to demand the full implementation of the Maghaberry agreement , reached last August , which was to put an end to the Brutality, violations and degredation directed towards Republican POWs by the sectarian staff at Maghaberry gaol.

The agreement was subsequently reneged on by the British gaol authorities resulting in severe beatings and violent strip searching being inflicted on Republicans within the gaol.

Free Derry corner is an iconic symbol of the fight for Human rights and we would ask everyone to join us at the camp.All relevant political banners and posters are welcome!

Paul Pearce Solicitor who knows the conditions first hand inside the jai...

2011-08-08T17:09:00.002-07:00

Paul Pearce Solicitor who knows the conditions first hand inside the jai...

2011-08-08T17:09:00.001-07:00

Paul Pearce Solicitor who knows the conditions first hand inside the jai...

2011-08-08T17:09:00.000-07:00

Brendan Conways speech (p2) at the Derry Gasyard debate on Maghabery.

2011-08-08T17:07:00.001-07:00

Brendan Conways speech at the Derry Gasyard debate on Maghaberry.

2011-08-08T17:07:00.000-07:00

Eamonn McCann talks on Marian Price and how those on licence are all vul...

2011-08-08T17:06:00.000-07:00

Eamonn McCann talks on Marian Price and how those on licence are all vul...

2011-08-08T17:05:00.001-07:00

Kevin Murphy speech (P2) at the Maghaberry debate in Derry's Gasyard.(8/...

2011-08-08T17:04:00.000-07:00

Kevin Murphy speech ( at the Maghaberry debate in Derry's Gasyard.(8/8/2...

2011-08-08T17:03:00.000-07:00

Statement from Republican POWs, Maghaberry, 4th Aug 2011

2011-08-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

Following the resumption of protest action at the start of May we explained in detail the reasons why we were forced into this action. It has been clear to us from the signing of the 12th August agreement that a “claw back” policy was in place by the gaol admin/NIO. Since our protest resumed we have met with the assessment team, who David Ford put in place immediately after the signing of the agreement to monitor its implementation. This group were to give reports to Ford at different periods on progress, or the lack of it from either party to the agreement. Their first report was produced in October 2010, 2 months after the signing of the agreement and 7 months before the resumption of our protest. This report dealt with issues that had arisen around the failures of the gaol admin/NIO to implement key areas of the agreement.

It went on to make 6 recommendations to resolve these areas but failed to act, as had the prison service in countless damning reports in the past. These recommendations dealt with strip searching entering and leaving the prison and the area around controlled movement, both of these issues were dealt with in the August agreement.

We have stated both to the assessment team and gaol admin long before protest action resumed that the implementation of these recommendations would defuse tensions around the failure of the gaol admin/NIO to implement the original August agreement and deal with the core issues that originally brought about protest in 2010 which ended in the signing of the 12th August agreement. Unfortunately Ford, the gaol admin/NIO failed to grasp the severity of the situation and failed to implement the August agreement in full or these recommendations.

During the 9 months from the August 2010 agreement was signed and the resumption of our protest, the POWs worked tirelessly to have these issues resolved, regularly debating and planning our road ahead. Only when we were left with no alternative we resumed protest action. We embarked on this stage of protest in the knowledge that a long battle lay ahead and our protest could last a lengthy period. The August agreement was supposed to be a foundation for all republican POWs to build on and bring about a wing conducive to our republican principles.

The failure to implement this agreement has made it impossible for this foundation to take hold. When only one side to any agreement show the willingness required to make it work, it is doomed at a very early stage. These failures lie at the feet of David Ford and the gaol admin/NIO. We have reached stalemate. There is no agreement. There is nothing on the horizon to give us any confidence that Ford or the Brits are willing to deal with the issues, on the contrary Ford would rather use the media to give a fixed position rather than face up to the loyalist P.O.A and bigoted gaol admin. All this together proves that our original thoughts that this protest is now set to be a very lengthy battle.

We will not entertain anything short of our original demands which brought about the failed August agreement. We therefore call on family and comrades at home and abroad to show support, for what is only the beginning of a long hard battle ahead and we thank you for all your continued support.

Victory to the POWs.

Signed: Colin Duffy, Sean McConville, Damien McLaughlin, Brian Cavlan, John Paul Wootton, Harry Fitzsimons, Joe Barr, Mark McGuigan, Kevin Barry Nolan, Brian Sheridan, Dominic Dynes, Gavin Coyle, Brendan McConville, Gerard McManus.

Anti Internment Camp (Implement the Agreement) Derry 12th August

2011-08-03T02:47:00.000-07:00

The 32CSM have organised a 48 hour anti internment/Implement the agreement camp in Derry at Free Derry Corner on the first anniversary of the signing of the August agreement last year. This camp has been set up to raise awareness of the ongoing protest in Maghaberry Prison and the ongoing internment of Marian Price,Brendan Lillis, Martin Corey, Gerry Mc Geough and other POW's who have had their licences revoked.

Our Fortnightly POW Protest in Shipquay Street will also take place on Saturday the 13th of August at 2pm.

I would urge everyone to attend and bring their own tents and camping equipment to this protest.

All welcome!!

Anti Internment/Implement the Agreement Camp
Free Derry Corner
Bogside
Derry City
12th to the 14th of August 2011 (12 noon)
All welcome

Maghaberry - The Truth! Discussion & debate- This Sunday 7pm,Gasyard, Derry

2011-08-02T04:38:00.000-07:00

Public debate on Maghaberry gaol taking place this Sunday 7.00pm at the Gasyard centre on the Lecky road in Derry.A Prominent panel will be in attendance.All welcome.

RUC/PSNI Creggan raid-pregnant woman abused

2011-07-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

Short video taken from the 2nd house raid in Derry this morning.They abused and attacked residents,drew batons and manhandled a pregnant woman.

Community group leaders were also present to witness the actions of the unreformed & unreformable RUC.

An emotional Roisin Lynch speaking for the release of her partner Brenda...

2011-07-24T15:04:00.000-07:00

32csm Statement in Response to Marian Price Charges

2011-07-23T06:14:00.000-07:00

In a blatant attempt to disguise the political reality that internment is in use the British authorities have brought fabricated charges against republican Marian Price to portray her detention as being ordered by a court and not a British Minister.
This same British Minister has interned others, including Brendan Lillis, who is critically ill, and all calls for his immediate release have fallen on deaf and indifferent ears. Is this the so called new beginning widely hailed by those who are administrators of this insidious regime?
Marian Price was interned on the day the micro ministers in Stormont were appointing another puppet, a so called ‘Justice Minister’; these charges also protect that position from exposure as being a toothless façade. Nothing has changed.
The criminalisation policy of the British government towards Irish republicans continues as does our steadfast resistance to it. These actions demonstrate clearly the failure of the so called peace process to address the root cause of the conflict.
The 32CSM calls for the immediate release of Marian Price, Brendan Lillis and all political detainees. We call for the implementation of the agreement in Maghaberry and an immediate end to political policing.

Brendan Lillis hunger camp at Free Derry corner

2011-07-23T06:09:00.000-07:00

A Brendan Lillis hunger camp was set up on thursday in response to the intransigence of the British govt and Stormont puppet David Ford in letting an interned prisoner starve to death.

Brendan Lillis may have only days to live and is totally reliant on others for basic needs.He has been in a prone position on a hospital bed for over 600 days, healthwise has deteriorated to under 5 and a half stone and is incapable of moving due to a debilitating spinal condition which has fused together the bones in his back.

He has no charges pending yet when called on to release Brendan to the care of his family and outside medical care which could prolong his life,British puppet minister David Ford refused stating that he was a threat to the state.

British intransigence in 1981 meant 10 men starving themselves to death for better conditions for Irish Republicans in British gaols.

30 years on , an Irishman who hasn't a choice finds himself being effectively starved to death by the British government's apathy towards anyone who could be construed as an Irish Republican.

The Hunger camp will be on until Sunday afternoon/evening and we ask that as many as possible make their way to Free Derry corner and lend their voice to the campaign which could save the life of Brendan Lillis.

The camp has been set up as an Independent camp welcoming all human rights activists.

Lend your voice and presence!

Save Brendan Lillis!

GRMA.

POW protest - Release Brendan Lillis now!

2011-07-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

The whiteline protest took place between 2 - 3 pm on Saturday last and was used particularly to highlight the case of Brendan Lillis.

Below is a press release taken from the Pensive quill on Brendan's condition and campaign.

Brendan Lillis Press Release

The Pensive Quill carries a press release issued on behalf of Brendan Lillis who is currently seriously ill in Maghaberry Prison

Brendan Lillis is currently a prisoner in Maghaberry Prison where he is serving a sentence for explosive offences in 1976. Brendan suffers from the condition ankylosing spondylitis and has been confined to bed for the best part of the past two years.

Brendan Lillis is no threat to anybody. Brendan Lillis is dying and has been abandoned by an entire political system which is more interested in making statements about his condition than in applying their political power to remedy the situation.

We call for the immediate release of Brendan Lillis to his partner Roisin so that whatever time Brendan has left on this earth be spent with his immediate family.

Brendan Lillis can not walk; he can not get up from his bed. He is incapacitated, and he is being left alone to die in a prison cell. We have seen enough of our people die in prison cells and find the manner in which Brendan is being treated as an obscenity.

A hunger strike in support of Brendan Lillis will commence this Thursday 21st July at the site of the old Andersonstown Barracks, Belfast. Roisin Lynch, partner of Brendan Lillis will be joined by old comrades of Brendan’s from the Blanket protest days and other former prisoners and concerned individuals. The action is designed to highlight Brendan’s case and the lack of any movement in securing his release from the politicians who know Brendan and knew him as a Blanketman.

Time is fast running out for Brendan Lillis and he should be released immediately.

We call on all people concerned with this grave injustice to come along on Thursday, Friday or Saturday and register your support for a sick and dying man being held hostage by a vindictive and punitive regime.

Press release taken from:

http://thepensivequill.am/2011/07/brendan-lillis-press-release.html

Pumping Up The Volume - Marian Price

2011-07-14T02:26:00.000-07:00

When decorum is repression, the only dignity free men have is to speak out - Abbie Hoffman

The ongoing detention of the republican activist Marian Price two months after her arrest raises serious concerns about how life sentence licenses are being used as a weapon of political policing. Price was detained some days after being filmed holding a statement that was read out by a masked man at a republican Easter commemoration in Derry. The masked figure made threats to the PSNI and others in the course of his statement to the crowd. Price was subsequently charged with providing support for an illegal organisation.

Price’s reasons for performing some sort of auxiliary role during this Easter event will presumably be given in full when her case comes to trial. However, that is secondary to the fact that on the charge of providing support to an illegal body she was granted bail and should therefore be at home with her family and not locked up in Maghaberry. The charge against her was not considered all that serious otherwise bail would not have been granted so easily and so early.

That her license was immediately revoked means she is now serving time for activity carried out while a member of the Provisional IRA in 1973. She is not serving time for anything else, not for holding statements read out by others, not for anything. Her detention dovetails with the British practice of manufacturing categories of republicans: approved and non-approved. Those in the ‘approved’ category, like Gerry Kelly, are allowed into the US despite serving alongside Marian Price in the same IRA team that bombed London. A person’s republican past, as was made clear in the trial of Gerry McGeough, is not now a clean slate but a suspended summons to be issued when the British state’s nose is put out of joint.

The sole female prisoner in an otherwise exclusively male Maghaberry, it would seem the decision to hold her there rather than at Hydebank Wood is an attempt by the British government to lend amplification to the security threat supposedly posed by this woman. The British Secretary of State Owen Patterson began pumping up the volume when he said upon revoking her license that Price posed a threat which had ‘significantly increased.’ Not one shred of evidence has been forthcoming on this matter.

There is no case that can be made against Marian Price that would justify the imposition of a life sentence. Like the internees of the 1970s she is being held hostage to the good behaviour of physical force republicans currently campaigning against British rule. There has been no trial, no examination of the evidence in open court or an opportunity for Price to legally defend herself. Quite arbitrarily the British Secretary of State has signed away her freedom on the basis of some secret information provided by a British police officer. Given the emaciated reliability of that over the past four decades it is a sore point for many on the receiving end of British whispers.

Other former republican prisoners who served life sentences and who were subsequently released on license are now back in prison having had their licenses revoked. It is significant that neither Martin Corey nor Brendan Lillis are being held on any grounds other than PSNI whispers. They are currently, like Price, in prison for Provisional IRA activity dating back to the 1970s; a warning to others that they too can be recalled at any time. What guarantee do we have that a former lifer who simply refuses to become an informer for the PSNI or MI5 will not have their license revoked?

The detention of Marian Price is indefensible. Old policing methods are being used in what is supposed to be a new dispensation. The very forces the British government hope to overcome by revoking licenses are merely having their suspicions reinforced that the British cry foul while playing dirty. Much the same as they always did. Rather than persuade their republican opponents that dirty means should be out of bounds, the British actions merely incite them to carry such means onto the field of play.

Nor are such republicans likely to be enticed by dirty tactics towards any strategy that remotely resembles Sinn Fein’s, which is what the British want them to embrace. They will, with no shortage of justification, feel that for all its huffing and puffing Sinn Fein has not blown down any houses of repression but rather is warmly ensconced inside them rubbing its hands at the fire having burned its former comrades in the flames.
Reproduced from the Pensive quill website courtesy of author Anthony Mc Intyre.

http://thepensivequill.am/2011/07/pumping-up-volume.html

POW Whiteline picket this Saturday,Derry - 2pm

2011-07-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

POW Whiteline picket this saturday 16th July 2pm, Shipquay street,Derry and every 2 weeks until further notice.

Support the POWs

32CSM Bodenstown 2011 Address by Francie Mackey

2011-07-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

The essential first step to be taken in resolving any problem is to recognise that the problem exists. For too often in our history this guiding maxim was abandoned to facilitate political illusions that the so called ‘Irish Question’ had been resolved. The process involved in formulating such treaties began with an Irish acceptance of a British definition of the conflict. This was followed by a war or peace scenario designed to portray Irish aspirations as inextricably linked with war whilst those of the British were allied to peace. What resulted was a conflict in the Irish position between continuing war and our sovereign independence. The ensuing agreements reflected this dichotomy and our right to sovereignty was subjugated as per British intentions.

The flawed political instincts inherent in these processes are currently at work again in Ireland today. The task facing republicans is to demonstrate that the conflict has not been resolved and that the political theatrics in Stormont are an illusion as far as achieving our freedom is concerned. This is an onerous task which requires fortitude and a pragmatic political outlook. We have moved beyond the blame game. We have moved beyond invoking history. We have moved beyond invoking ideology as a means to move us forward. We are now standing in the shoes of Wolf Tone and our actions will define how deserved we are in being so.

Let us first begin by defining the problem so that our people can recognise that it still exists. In doing so I first address this to fellow republicans because a unified voice can achieve this with more certainty. It is important for republicans to understand the necessity of adopting a common position on the conflict and to recognise that a particular politics is required to address this, independent of any politics envisaged for a post conflict Ireland. We need to introduce a politically crafted conflict resolution package into the current equation.

The problem is the violation of our sovereignty and the denial of our right as a people to national self determination. We define self determination as the Irish people determining our own future democratically and inclusively and without external impediment. Self determination is not defined as voting on what others have determined we should vote on. It is not a partitioned vote nor is it a vote which includes a section of our people being given triple-lock guarantees by a foreign government that their vote should prevail over the votes of others. This is the cause of conflict between the Irish people and the British establishment.

The Good Friday Agreement is not a resolution to the conflict. It is yet another political illusion designed to address the symptoms and not the cause as if both were one and the same. It was also designed to entrap and misdirect those who would pursue the separatist agenda but who are now forced to administer British rule in Ireland.

That rule continues to manifest itself in ways which advocates of the Good Friday Agreement would have us believe are a thing of the past. Those who dissent are interned. Those who are interned are brutalised. Those who are brutalised are criminalised. And those who are criminalised are labelled traitors. This is the nature of British rule and any surrogate or proxy administration will share this nature also.

We send greetings to 32CSM National Executive member and internee Marian Price. We send greetings to all internees and POW’s and pledge ourselves to work tirelessly on your behalf and on behalf of your families. And in as much as our work on this front is to alleviate their plight we will not flinch from the political realities that also need to be addressed on this issue. Strip searching is a vile and degrading practice. It was vile thirty years ago in the midst of the hunger strikes. Its political use was deployed to secure the same objective then, against those fighting for what we fight for today, to break our spirit and criminalise our struggle. It failed then and it will fail now irrespective of the deafening silence from establishment nationalists.

When the British government and its micro administration at Stormont tell us that the conflict is over we point to their activities towards republican prisoners and remind them that it is not. We point out the continued activities of the RUC against the republican people and remind them that changing its name in no way changes its function. We remind them of our challenge against their presence here at the United Nations and adjure them to respond. The conflict cannot be ended by ignoring its cause.

The IRA is not the cause of the conflict. Nor can they be used as a pre-condition for not seeking its ending. It is vital that both the British government and republicans recognise this. As republicans seeking a way forward it is not our function to try and influence the IRA concerning its actions; those actions are a reflex to the ongoing failure to address the issue of sovereignty. Talk of republican unity cannot be focussed around pro or anti armed struggle positions because armed struggle is an inevitable presence in this political theatre.

Nor must we fall into the trap of not being able to distinguish between the politics required to end armed conflict and the politics required to end social injustice in a post conflict Ireland. We cannot allow disagreements, real or imagined, on how we see a new, free Ireland to stifle republican cooperation to end the conflict that puts any new Ireland beyond our reach. The Sovereignty Movement is primarily concerned with resolving the armed conflict. No new Ireland can emerge unless this happens first. All visions of a new Ireland are hostage to this reality.

Here today we once again call on all republicans to come together and forge a way forward. We invite you to collaborate on a conflict resolution package which can focus our resources to that end. Republicanism needs ideas. We have ideas; you have ideas, let us take the best of them and make the most of them.

We say to the British government it is within your grasp to end the conflict. We recognise that the temptation to resist exploiting the flawed approach of previous republican leaders was too great given the longevity of the conflict between us. You know that Dublin is weak but you equally know the strength of our arguments as presented to you. Those arguments concern the cause of the conflict. Your refusal or inability to respond to them reinforces their veracity. But we also have arguments for resolving the conflict. They are as strong as they are imaginative and call for no pre-conditions whatsoever to engage with them.

Our vilification in the media and by the political establishment is a testament to our growing influence. The disgraceful smears levelled against republican activist Liam Kenny in the wake of his murder by drug dealers betrayed their panicked mindset. It is a mindset devoid of reasoned argument or insight. The glaring headlines were eventually reduced to humiliating and hidden admissions that Liam was an outstanding republican and community activist who gave his life in the service of both. We send our condolences and solidarity to his family and comrades.

But this episode once again throws into light the ever changing construct of the modern media. It is a light republicans need to step into also. The changing nature of mass communication has created opportunities for republicans to get our message across to an instant and massive audience. Section 31 type censorship is no longer the all powerful tool it used to be. Mass communication is no longer the preserve of a politically appointed media elite. We can reach a wide audience also and it is imperative that we do so. It is imperative that we attract to our ranks those who are instinctively familiar with this modernity and apply our gritty inventiveness to maximise its benefits.

The recent assaults on residents in the Short Strand underscores the continuing sectarian nature of the Six County Statelet. It further underscores that any so called peace process predicated on a sectarian headcount is doomed to failure. Partition has been a disaster for all our people yet throughout this process no one was obliged to make an argument as to why it should continue. There are no arguments to justify its continuance yet the political narrative was based on an automatic acceptance that it should do so.

We seek a new narrative with our unionist brothers and sisters. We seek a dialogue that is based on rational argument and which does not exclude options for the betterment of Ireland. But all dialogue needs an incentive for it to be engaged in. The Good Friday Agreement does not provide this incentive to unionists, rather it allows them to merely say no to any alternatives to partition. All other participants are obliged to work the constitutional status quo yet unionists are excused from even discussing other options. The claim that the aspiration of Irish unity is on an equal par with a maintenance of the border is another illusion.

Comrades our task is to break down these illusions. Working together we can achieve this. It is time to work together. Beir bua!

"Injustice" minister caught out!

2011-07-04T16:43:00.000-07:00

UK city of culture boards get makeover

2011-06-28T03:11:00.000-07:00

POW protest this Saturday July 2nd,Shipquay street, Derry

2011-06-26T22:36:00.000-07:00

Drunken Maghaberry screw - "Wish we had soldiers like the Shankill butchers!"

2011-06-24T03:17:00.000-07:00

The family of POW Gerard McManus had a scheduled visit which was to take place at 2.45pm on Wednesday 23rd June.

Following a prolonged period of waiting and with other visits scheduled for the same time already taking place, Gerards elderly father asking as to his son's non appearance, was promptly told to sit down, then informed that Gerard would be there shortly.

The family remained seated as other visits ended and at 4pm Gerard was eventually brought to the visiting area.

At approximately 4.35pm, a Maghaberry screw,who appeared to be intoxicated ended the visit.

Gerard's father remonstrated with him, stating that they had driven some 2 and a half hours to get there, been held in the visiting area for another 1 and a quarter hours and his scheduled visit was being cut short without reason.

The screw became verbally abusive to both the POW and his family and stated that he wished there were still soldiers like the Shankill butchers to take care of people like them (Referring to the POW & family).

The riot squad was then called to remove the family from the visiting area and the POW back to his cell.

At this stage the drunken guard was called away by his colleagues.

Gerard's elderly father requested to see the Governor to register an official complaint about the sectarian abuse received and the fact that visits were being overseen by drunken sectarian guards.

A woman who claimed to be an Assistant Governor came down to meet him and immediately informed him that she was not interested in hearing his complaints and that they were to leave the gaol immediately.

Release Brendan Lillis Now!

2011-06-23T10:44:00.000-07:00

Short Strand Attacks

2011-06-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement condemn the outrageous sectarian attacks that have occurred on the Short Strand over the past number of nights. It is blatantly obvious that these attacks, which have been orchestrated by Loyalist paramilitaries are designed to try and restore some prestige to their organisations which are no more than fronts for criminality. What is also obvious is that this has been facilitated by the RUC/PSNI who allowed the attacks to take place. This should be juxtaposed against their response to Republican protestors in Ardoyne.

During the 12th of July last year they had no hesitation in deploying plastic bullets and water cannons, it would appear that when the perpetrators are loyalists they have a free hand. The fact that shots were fired into the grounds of St Matthews church by Loyalist mobs should act as a wake up call for any republicans still convinced that this is a new impartial police force. They have done nothing to protect the community of the Short Strand, just as the RUC did nothing when the residents came under attack in recent years. We salute all those who defended their community and urge all republicans both in Belfast and farther afield to stand by the residents during their hour of need.
Beir Bua

Police Wear Poppies At Republican Rally

2011-06-23T04:15:00.000-07:00

(Suzanne Breen, Daily Mirror)

The PSNI have been accused of provocative behaviour after some officers policed a republican parade wearing poppies.

Protesters at the event in West Belfast on Saturday said it was "highly insensitive and offensive" that officers had sported the emblem.

They added the community had "suffered so much at the hands of the British Army".

The officers were policing a demonstration organised by Eirigi outside Grosvenor Road barracks in protest at the alleged "PSNI harassment and aggressive attempts by MI5" to recruit local people.

Mark Thompson of Relatives for Justice said he believed the display may be in breach of Equality Commission guidelines.

He added: "Matt Baggott tells us we have an impartial police force. If that's so, he needs to take steps to neutralise and depoliticise his force." A police spokesman said the display of emblems was covered by PSNI equal opportunities policy.

Anyone believing it had been broken should contact the Police Ombudsman. The same office which is currently under investigation for impartiality.

POW protest June 18th

2011-06-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

Cash left to inform - claim

2011-06-18T12:23:00.000-07:00

A former republican prisoner from Derry has claimed that men he suspects are police officers gave him £500 in cash in a bid to recruit him as an informer.

The man, who did not wish to be named, said the incident took place outside his Creggan home yesterday morning.
The ex-prisoner said two men in plain clothes, who he believes are police officers, asked him to help them by providing information on dissident republicans.
The man also claimed he has been “harrassed” by the police in recent months and had been arrested on numerous occasions.
“I was in the kitchen doing work for a diploma and my son told me there were two men outside wanting to speak to me and that they were in the back yard, around the side of the house. I went out and I didn’t recognise them and asked them what they wanted.
“They said they knew that money is tight these days and suggested that I could help them out. At that stage I figured out what was going on because they have tried it before.
“One of them produced an envelope and tried to give it to me but I told them I was not interested and that they shouldn’t even try and went back inside. As I was walking away one said he would leave the envelope by my oil tank in case I changed my mind. “I asked my wife to go outside after they left and there was an envelope with £500 in cash sitting by the tank,” he said.
The ex-prisoner also said he received a phone call seconds before he went outside which only rang once before stopping. “One of the men said he had just phoned my mobile and said that now I have his number I should give him a call and help him out,” he claimed.
When the ‘Journal’ contacted the number it was answered by a man with a northern accent who claimed it was a wrong number when the man’s claims were put to him.
The Creggan man said that he is not a member of any political or dissident republican group.
He also said that he is now fearful for his personal safety and added that he has contacted his solicitor about the incident.
A spokesperson for the 32 County Sovereignty Movement condemned the incident and appealed for anyone in a similar situation to come forward.
A PSNI spokesperson said: “We do not comment on intelligence matters and no inference should be drawn from this.
“However, in line with all other police services across the UK the PSNI’s policy in relation to the use of Covert Human Intelligence Sources is strictly governed by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and is fully compliant with Human Rights legislation.”

The 32csm ask all Republicans to be vigilant.If any approaches are made,do not hesitate to contact a member of the Sovereignty Movement.

Police Ombudsman Office Not Fit For Purpose

2011-06-16T07:04:00.000-07:00

NIO accused of interfering with Police Ombudsman office

The Northern Ireland Office has been accused of interfering in the appointment of the Police Ombudsman.

A report published by the human rights group, the Committee on the Administration of Justice, has listed concerns over the independence of the office.

The NIO said that the appointment of Al Hutchinson in 2007 was fully compliant with the rules.

Whilst, the Police Ombudsman Office said the review was "not balanced".

Speaking at the publication of the report on Thursday CAJ Director Mike Ritchie said he believed the ombudsman's office was not "fit for purpose".

He also said it had "discovered irregularities in the appointment process",for the post.

However, in a statement the NIO rejected the claims.

It said: "A representative of the Office of Commissioner for Public Appointments was involved at each stage of the process and signed a certificate confirming it was fully compliant."

'Attack'

The CAJ report was also highly critical of the way the ombudsman office operates, including how it deals with historic cases.

It accused the office of failing to hold police to account for incidents during the Troubles and criticised the length of time it took to investigate cases.

"In total, what we are saying is there are serious questions about the operation," Mr Ritchie said.

"There are recommendations that need to be addressed. Whether it is him (Mr Hutchinson) who addresses them or someone else is not our call."

He said the report was not a personal attack on Mr Hutchinson and he was not calling for his resignation.

"But what we are saying is there are eight fairly serious recommendations and we would like to see movement on all of them," said Mr Ritchie.

In a statement, the Police Ombudsman Office said: "It is clear that the report does not include a balanced view of the issues surrounding the investigation of historical matters, nor reflect the structural changes implemented to allow the office to deal with the doubling of historic cases in the past three years."

The office said issues relating to the appointment process, salary and benefits, and security vetting, was a matter for the Northern Ireland Office or Department of Justice.

The CAJ review into independence of the office began last August after concerns were raised by families of victims of the Troubles.

Mr Hutchinson is already facing two investigations into allegations that the independence of his office has been compromised.

Support For POWs In Paris

2011-06-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

Against torture in the jails of occupied Ireland, the IRA lives and fight!

Against english imperialism, long live armed struggle!

Bodenstown Wolfe tone Commemoration 2011

2011-06-10T15:13:00.000-07:00

Post Cancer patient POW forcibly strip searched before & after Doctor consultation

2011-06-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday June 7th, Screws entered Pow Brendan Conway’s cell and informed him that he was being transported to hospital for his post cancer check up. Brendan asked them if he would require a strip search leaving Maghaberry and they said yes, Brendan then told them that if a strip search was a prerequisite for him attending his hospital appointment he would be refusing to attend. They told him that he had no choice in the matter and he was physically trailed by the riot squad down to reception where he was brutally strip searched and transported to hospital.

He was escorted in handcuffs by two screws and brought into the consultation room; the screws sat either side of him as the Doctor started her consultation. Brendan asked the doctor to stop the consultation in the presence of the two screws and requested that they leave the room, the two screws refused. The doctor intervened and asked that the screws leave the room as patient doctor confidentiality meant that she could not continue with the consultation in their presence and pointed out that she would be required to do an intimate examination of Mr Conway and supported his request that they leave the room, they again refused so the consultation was cancelled.

Brendan was then returned to Maghaberry where he was forcibly strip searched again and returned to his cell. Brendan asked to speak to the Governor as he wanted to lodge a complaint about his treatment. The governor came to his cell and apologised for the incident and said that the two screws had broken protocol and they should have left the room during his consultation and gave Brendan an assurance that it would not happen again. Brendan told him that he would not be taking any future hospital appointments if he was required to endure a forced strip search to avail of them. The Governor said that they had to make sure he was brought to hospital for these important post cancer check ups and it was his job to ensure he attended. Brendan pointed out that it was within his rights to refuse hospital treatment and no one could force him to attend these appointments which required a brutal forced strip searched during which he received many injuries just to attend.

Brendan has been in touch with his legal team and will be pursuing this breach of his basic human right to Doctor-patient confidentiality through the courts.

Derry whiteline protests now fortnightly starting 18th June - Shipquay street

2011-06-09T02:10:00.000-07:00

A POW whiteline picket will take place on Shipquay street, Derry at 2pm on Saturday 18th June and fortnightly thereafter until further notice.

The writing's on the wall!

2011-06-09T02:01:00.000-07:00

Maghaberry gaol protest

2011-06-09T01:45:00.000-07:00

Maghaberry gaol POW protest tomorrow - Sunday

2011-06-04T12:36:00.000-07:00

Maghaberry gaol latest.

SUPPORT OUR P.O.W’s. UPDATE: Another Brutal attack on the Harry Fitzsimons by loyalist prison officers in Maghaberry Prison

Harry was severely beaten on saturday 28th of may, we had a visit with him the next day Sunday 29th, Myself his partner Paula and his 4yr old daughter and 5yr old son, After being verbally abused by loyalist screws on the way in, we then had to wait 30 minutes in the visiting room for them to bring Harry in last, as all the other p.o.w’s were brought in first. When they finally brought him in,We knew what to expect but were shocked at the state of his face multiple cuts an bruises, when i gently hugged him he was in pain he said his ribs were so sore, his jaw an chin is swollen also his wrist, we cant say they’r broken because he hasnt had any medical attention, no xrays no painkillers, nothing. He said they entered his cell and forced him to the ground, kicking and punching him to the face and body smashing his glasses into his face causing the cuts and bruising, they held his arms behind his back while covering his mouth an nose so he couldn’t breath and pass out, still kicking him and punching him, they trailed him over to the radiator by the hair whilst naked, to bash his face off it, this went on for full 20 minutes non-stop, whilst trailing his clothes off his body and all through the ordeal they were screaming into his face ‘your nothing’ ‘dirty bastard’ and ’no good scumbag’ Harry said this was an unprovoked attack, other pow’s confirmed this on the visit yesterday. he requested to see a Doctor yesterday after the beating and still hasnt seen one I phoned maghaberry prison Sunday morning before the visit and was put through to Roe house, I enquired about the reports that were coming out of the prison about Harry getting a beating from the riot squad and laughily they told me ‘They dont beat their prisoners and no ones been beaten in here’ and ‘sure you can see him yourself when you come up to visit him today’ and hung up. As we all seen for ourselves not surprisingly, They were lying once again. I found out an hour after the phonecall it was actually the riots squad i was conversing with as they are running the wing. The p.o.w’s visitors were outside after the visit and each of them, appaulled and disgusted they were not surprised at this brutal assault on our p.o.w’s and agreed to fill out a complaints form for Pauline Mc Cabe the ombudsman for maghaberry to say how they witnessed the injuries Harry sustained from this vicious attack. I as his sister plead with anyone who reads this to please get in touch with their local councillor, human rights and anyone else who they think may be of some help to get the 12th of August agreement implimented. Anyone can phone this number here in belfast and leave message for Monica Mc Williams about the beatings p.o.w’s in maghaberry prison, she works for human rights and is a dedicated worker in this field its 02890 243987 HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATIONS Irish Council for Civil Liberties, 9-13 Blackhall Place, Dublin-7 Ph: +353-1-799 4504 Fax: +353-1-799 4512 Email: info@iccl.ie NEW ADDRESS: Association for the Prevention of Torture, Route des Morillons 5 1218 Le Grand-Saconnex Association for th…e Prevention of Torture PO. Box 2267 CH-1211 Geneva 2 SWITZERLAND E-mail : apt@apt.ch Website : www.apt.ch Fax : +41 (22) 919 21 80 Phone : +41 (22) 919 21 70 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL International Secretariat The International Secretariat is responsible for the majority of the organization’s research and leads our campaigning work, based in London, UK.Telephone: +44-20-74135500Fax +44-20-79561157 Address: 1 Easton Street London WC1X 0DW, UK Committee on the Administration of Justice – CAJ 2nd Floor, Sturgen Building 9-15 Queen Street Belfast BT1 6EA Tel – 028 9031 6000 Fax – 028 9031 4583 Email – info@caj.org.uk British Irish Rights Watch 13b Hillgate Place London SW12 9ES email: birw@birw.org fax: (+44) 020 8772 9162 Human Rights Watch in Northern Ireland Ulster Human Rights Watch, PO Box 163, Lisburn, Northern Ireland, BT28 3UN, tel. 07759212861 Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission Temple Court 39 North Street Belfast Northern Ireland BT1 1NA Tel: +44 (0) 28 9024 3987See more

by: Lilian Fitzsimons

POW picket - Shipquay street.Free Marian Price!

2011-06-04T12:29:00.000-07:00

Sinn Féin: A Lesson in Hypocrisy

2011-06-02T02:01:00.001-07:00

POW Whiteline picket- Sat 4th June 2pm, Shipquay street,Derry

2011-06-01T09:31:00.000-07:00

Please note that this months POW picket will be held on Shipquay street .

Following the escalations of beatings,forced strip searches and violations inflicted on Republican POWs in Maghaberry Gaol, the Sovereignty movement feel we have no option but to take the protests back to Derry city centre to highlight the aforementioned acts of torture.

The brutal beating suffered by Republican POW Harry Fitzsimons during the week was the latest in a long list of savagery directed towards Republicans by sectarian guards who relish every opportunity to have a dig at defenceless men, knowing the state has their back.

David Forde,holder of a puppet ministry position in a British sub parliament deliberately chooses to ignore the barbarity within the gaol,keen to rock no boats following his recent job retention.

Apart from soundbites and rhetoric emanating from other politicos, no substantive efforts have been made to resolve the torture within the gaol.

State Internment has and is being drip fed resulting in Irish Republicans being incarcerated solely for holding differing political beliefs.

Marian Price,a 57 year old unapologetic Irish Republican woman was recently dragged from her house and arrested on a trumped up charge linked to her appearance at an Easter commemoration in Derry.She was removed to Antrim Interrogation centre before being Interned in an all male prison where she has been isolated since her arrest.

On her appearance in court, she was bailed and subequently re-arrested and Interned on the whim of British Tory minister Owen Patterson.

She remains isolated in Maghaberry at this point.

We would ask all Republicans to protest and highlight the political policing being encouraged and implemented by Tory HQ via Stormont.

Internment was wrong in 1971 ! What makes it right in 2011?

Implement the August agreement!

End the Brutality in Maghaberry!

Victory to the POWs!

POW seriously beaten / Maghaberry Independent POW protest

2011-05-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

Latest from Maghaberry:

Update on POWs : It is being confirmed by Republican POWs in Maghaberry prison, that Harry Fitzsimons has received a severe beating by the riot squad.

They went into his cell this morning, holding their hands over his mouth and nose to stop his breathing, punching his face until they broke his glasses cutting his face and leaving him with a suspected broken nose.

Another POW said he's unrecognisable, having a suspected broken wrist and broken ribs due to the severe punching to his body.The screws then brutally ripped every stitch of clothing off his body, then got on top of him and beat him as he screamed out in pain.
The other POWs said they didnt even recognise the voice. other updates will follow.

Following the recent developments in the gaol we would encourage as many as possible to try and attend this protest next Sunday 5th June.

The POWs are being severely beaten on a daily basis by sectarian screws in Maghaberry gaol and the media are complicit with their silence.

End the Brutality in Maghaberry gaol!

Implement the August agreement in full!

Support the POWs!

Free Marian Price !

2011-05-24T10:49:00.001-07:00

Sinn Fein Mayor Shakes British Queen's Hand

2011-05-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

A Sinn Fein mayor has made history by becoming the first member of his party to shake the hand of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.
Michael Browne met the Queen on the final day of the momentous state visit as she toured the majestic Rock of Cashel, imposing ancient ruins perched on a hill on the outskirts of the Co Tipperary town.

Mr Browne, mayor of Cashel, was one of several local dignitaries invited to the event to welcome the monarch.

He claimed it was his civic duty as the town's first citizen to make the gesture.

"I just shook hands with her," he said. "I just said to her 'welcome to Cashel Your Majesty and I hope you enjoy your stay'. No more, no less."

Mr Browne, in a wheelchair, said the Queen thanked him for his welcome.

As an invited guest, Buckingham Palace officials would have been aware that the two meeting was a strong possibility.

The handshake follows the monarch's emotive expression of sympathy during the state dinner for those who suffered in centuries of strife between Britain and Ireland.

Asked if he was the first member of Sinn Fein to meet the Queen and shake hands, Mr Browne said: "I would say so, yeah."

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams earlier praised the British Queen for her expression of sympathy and claimed he hoped the visit would pave the way for greater co-operation between the two countries.

Arrest of 32CSM Activists

2011-05-19T15:30:00.000-07:00

In its desperation to portray to the outside world the image of a welcomed British Monarch in Ireland the Dublin Government has demonstrated a massive disregard for freedom of speech and movement of its own citizens. Having spent millions ensuring that streets were deserted to insulate the monarch from legitimate protest they have now adopted the tactic of pre-emptive arrests to ensure that protests do not happen at all. This evening close on twenty members of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement were arrested under Section 21 of the Public Order Act as they assembled in Dublin to protest at the monarch’s presence. For all the grandiose talk of new relations and looking to the future the thin veneer has been scraped away to expose the political bankruptcy underneath.

The politics of this visit are clear; in the eyes of those organizing it partition is now fully legitimized. The laying of a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance reflected the view of those present that the Proclamation and Declaration of Independence were wrong and that the Anglo Irish Treaty of 1922, and subsequent derivatives, represents the lawful parameters of Irish sovereignty. We reject this utterly and will continue, despite dictatorial political policing, to expose it.

Justice for Manus Deery candlelight vigil

2011-05-19T15:19:00.000-07:00

Irish Tricolor Banned In Dublin

2011-05-19T10:12:00.001-07:00

Marian Price - Press statement

2011-05-17T13:16:00.000-07:00

It is no coincidence that this repression precedes the royal visit to the Twenty Six County State. Whilst we witness the grovelling of the West Brit brigade, falling over themselves to welcome the sectarian monarch, republicans see clearly the message she brings with her; the Irish are finally in their place.

But more telling is the absolute humiliation that this act bestows on the Stormont regime. On the very day that the micro ministries were being dished out, most noticeably a ‘justice’ ministry, the real seat of power was exercising itself. The farce was exposed for the puppet regime it is. We now challenge those who advocate that this farce represents a route to a sovereign Ireland to state clearly where they stand on this repressive act? We challenge them to state clearly what powers this farce enables them to undo this massive injustice?

This is the Good Friday Agreement in action. These are the fruits of the so called ‘peace process’ and the flawed thinking of outmanoeuvred former republican leaders. We call on all republicans to work together to fight this injustice. We call for unity and solidarity with republican POW’s as they struggle against repression from within their imprisonment. And we say to the Irish people this is what the royal visitor represents and this is why we strenuously oppose it.

Derry court protest at Internment of Marian Price

2011-05-17T13:12:00.000-07:00

32CSM condemn the arrest and subsequent charging of veteran Republican Marian Price.

2011-05-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

Statement
Marian Price, The 32csm National secretary chairperson of the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association was arrested on Friday 13th May and taken to Antrim interrogation centre.
She was charged on Sunday with a ridiculous charge linked to her appearance at a 32csm Easter commemoration in which masked members of the IRA were in attendance and an IRA Easter statement was read.
It is quite clear that the RUC/PSNI were told to arrest Miss Price by the highest level of the British political/Security apparatus and there is no doubt that this arrest and recent arrests of other Republicans are a prime example of political policing in advance of the British queen's visit to Ireland.
Republicans must be wary in the coming days as this arrest and these charges set a dangerous precedent and are aimed at disrupting the legitimate political work of our movement.
We will resist all such attempts at criminalisation.
Statement ends.

We ask all Republicans to join us at 9.30am tomorrow morning (Monday 16th May) to protest at the recent politically driven arrests of Prominent Republicans.

Sinn Fein Member Removes POW Graffiti In Derry

2011-05-11T07:15:00.000-07:00

Statement 15/05/2011

Republican prisoners in Maghaberry Gaol recommenced a dirty protest this week when prison authorities reneged on a deal that had been brokered by independent facilitators.

At the same time a Sinn Fein member was photographed painting out messages of support for Colin Duffy. As republican POWs suffer brutalisation at the hands of the British Crown, Derry 32 CSM makes no apology for highlighting this on their website, including the posting of the photograph of the Sinn Fein member.

Sinn Fein alleges that paint was thrown onto the car of the Sinn Fein member. An email was sent out to community groups attacking the 32 CSM and calling for a vigil at the home of the Sinn Fein member.

In a separate incident, graffiti appeared on walls in the Kildrum Gardens area expressing support for the Provisionals and attacking named members of the 32 CSM. The homes of pensioners and a former Sinn Fein Councillor were targeted. The hate campaign centred on the homes of life-long republicans. There were no calls for vigils or protests from Sinn Fein. When the organisers of the vigil were asked to draw attention to this incident they refused.

The 32 CSM is confident that the people of Creggan will see through Sinn Fein’s hypocrisy and its attempts to stoke up tension in the community.

Highlighting the plight of republican prisoners on protest in Maghaberry Gaol will remain the focus of the 32 CSM.

Statement Ends