Issue 201, Saoirse : Irish Freedom (January, 2004)

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>>        THE VOICE OF THE REPUBLICAN MOVEMENT
UIMH 201   EANAIR   — JANUARY   2004 http://saoirse.rr.nu €1 (70p stg, USA $30 p.a.)
olvement
in Dublin/
Monaghan
bombs
ages 3 and 11
inside
Republican prisoners face removal to English jails
Brits plan
repression
prisoners
THE British government is planning to exile and
isolate Six-County Republican prisoners to jails
in England, Wales and Scotland. The new power
is contained in the Justice (Northern Ireland) Bill
which is currently being debated by the
Westminster parliament.
When this  is  passed     who won separation from
into law the prison regime
in Maghaberry jail will be
free to begin to repress the
Republican prisoners there
loyalist and ordinary prisoners last September after
many years of physical
attacks and protests.
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Any resistance by the
prisoners to this punitive
regime could now result in
their removal to jails in
England.
This is the sting in the
tail of the Steele Review
published on September 8
last year which recommended the separation of
Republican and loyalist
prisoners.
The plan to exile
protesting political prisoners to jails in England on a
compulsory basis was also
contained in John Steele's
report but this was not publicised at the time for the
following reason.
In the run-up to the
Stormont assembly poll at
the end of November the
Provisionals in particular
were anxious not to face
into an election with escalating protests by
Republican prisoners in
Maghaberry against the
forced integration policy
of the British government.
This had resulted in
numerous attacks on and
death threats against
Republican prisoners by
loyalists and prison officers.
The Provisionals
approached the Dublin
administration who contacted the British and the
Steele Review's recommendation that the forced
• Maghaberry jail, Co Antrim, where Republican prisoners won separation from loyalists and ordinary prisoners
in September 2003.
integration of prisoners be
halted was announced
early in September.
With the elections safely out of the way this
repressive plan for forced
removal of protesting prisoners has been revealed.
Any complacency on
the part of Republican
prisoners and their supporters outside the jails as
a result of September's partial victory must now be
ended as the campaign for
political status faces a new
and sinister challenge.
This policy was in fact
used at the beginning of
the Stormont regime in
1922   when   imprisoned
Republicans were sent to
Peterhead jail in the north
of Scotland and were not
released until 1926-27.
Before that the sentenced
1916 Rising prisoners
were dispersed to various
jails in England. Terence
Mac Swiney died on
hunger strike in Brixton
jail, London in 1920.
Even the new 26-
County State considered
asking the English for permission to exile
Republican prisoners to
some far-flung island
colonies. This is nothing
new for the British.
During the struggle for
independence of Cyprus in
the    1950s   the   British
seized the political leader
of the Greek Cypriots,
Archbishop Makarios, and
interned him in the
Seychelles in the Indian
Ocean. In the 1940s
Republicans were jailed in
Parkhurst and Dartmoor.
In the 1970s Parkhurst
in the Isle of Wight was
where Irish Republican
prisoner Michael Gaughan
died on hunger strike. His
fellow Mayo Republican
Frank Stagg died on
hunger strike in Wakefield
prison, Yorkshire.
The struggle for political status continues with
the priority now on tackling the outstanding issues
of visits, compassionate
parole and education.
Closed or screened visits
are still being inflicted on
Republican prisoners and
their dependants.
There is also the
absence of any education
facilities in the Republican
prisoners' own area. The
current compassionate
parole arrangements where
prisoners are allowed just
seven hours to attend the
funeral of a family member is totally inadequate
and must be ended.
The struggle for political status must and will go
on, inside and outside
Britain's jails in occupied
Ireland.
eannachtai na