2001/02 and 2001/03, The Sovereign Nation (February/March, 2001)

              overei rudiication ot tne sl l-ounty sovereignty riovement pow's say discrimination republican pow's in portlaoise prison have slammed the department of justice for its policy of political discrimination towards them and has called on it to dif fuse the issue of parole following the ending of danny mcallister's recent hunger strike demanding the right to compassionate release mcallister's strike ended after 19 days following assurances from departmental officials that the issue of compassionate parole for anti-agreement republican prisoners would be examined following the end of the hunger strike republican pow's described the department's policy as unjustifiable and contrasted their treatment with that of pro-agreement provisional ira prisoners the pow's later released a statement on the controversy the full text of which reads in portlaoise prison on january 1st irish republican political prisoner danny mcallister embarked on a hunger-strike as a result of the department of justice's continu ing refusal to grant compassion ate parole thus preventing him from visiting his seriously ill mother and brother in matters concerning the dis tribution of compassionate parole / temporary release it is blatantly obvious that the department of justice is pursuing a policy of political discrimination against irish republican prisoners who have rejected the stormont agreement this is not the first occasion that danny mcallister had been denied compassionate parole to visit a seriously ill fami ly member compassionate parole eighteen months ago he applied for compassionate parole to visit his father in belfast who was terminally ill at the time this was initially granted by the deptartment of justice but as danny went to sign out of portlaoise prison his leave for parole was blocked the department stated that the denial of parole arose because of an outstanding ruc warrant for his arrest a few weeks later danny mcallister's father passed away and he was granted two days parole to attend the funeral in belfast when danny's solicitor investi gated the matter of the ruc war rant no such warrant was found to be in existence those involved in his application believe that parole was initially granted because the department of justice in error believed him to be on the provisional ira landing in portlaoise prison but once his status as an anti-agreement pris oner was clarified leave for parole was blocked at the last minute seriously ill approximately ten months ago danny mcallister's mother was diagnosed as being serious ly ill and his brother was diag nosed with leukaemia he then re-applied for compassionate parole to enable him to visit his mother and brother but yet again the department refused to grant parole it is against this background that danny made his decision to embark on a hunger strike on january 1st nineteen days into the hunger strike danny received assur ances from intermediaries including senator joe costello who were in contact with the department that the issue of compassionate parole and the criteria for attaining compassion ate parole would be discussed once the hunger strike had ended danny as a result agreed to terminate his hunger strike it is now up to the dublin govern ment and the department of justice in particular to diffuse this issue by ending their exist ing policy of political discrimina tion in the granting of parole recent controversies have arisen surrounding the weekend soirees of those who were con victed of involvement in the adare raid while released on parole the department of justice has no difficulty in granti ng parole to convicted provisional ira members thus enabling them to spend their weekends in the bars and hotels of limerick and donegal while on the other hand republican prisoners are refused compas sionate parole to visit their dying relatives because they are anti agreement unjustifiable policy the present policy of the department of justice is unjustifi able the opportunity has now been created to diffuse this issue it is an opportunity which must not be squandered during the hunger strike the pow's were very thankful for the efforts of mr colin mcnaughton of the international council of human rights ichr who made representations to mr barrington the irish ambassador in london mr me naughton said we at the international council for human rights find ourselves greatly concerned with regard to the complete and utter lack of humanitarian considera tion jewel in the ruc crown page 2 scout's watc the vice of vincent mckenna page 3 brendan hughes on the armani leadership page 4 danny mcallister who spent 19 days on hunger strike in pursuit of justice it is apparent that the differen tial treatment being accorded to mr daniel mcallister is because of political attitudes held by the irish government which is not conducive to nor in accordance with basic human rights regard ing equal treatment of prisoners developments with this issue department of justice is pursuing a policy of political discrimination against irish republican prisoners who have rejected the stormont agreement " over the coming months and particularly the department of justice's response will be close ly monitored by prisoner support groups the ichr and especially by the prisoners themselves j retreat from ¥ i revolution 	 the republican m surrender pages mrs o'connor challenges adams during american visit the murder of belfast republican joseph o'connor continues to reverber ate and is prompting serious questions even among some ardent financial sup porters of sinn fein in the united states the impact was heightened by the coura geous decision of the victim's mother margaret o'connor to venture to america and campaign for justice for her son the murder of joseph o'connor in front of his mother's home in ballymurphy sent shockwaves through republican areas even supporters of sinn fein were troubled by questions of whether the provisionals had carried out a shoot-to-kill murder of a republican because of his opposition to british rule mrs margaret o'connor despite her grief and sorrow decided to raise these questions in an american tour radio mrs o'connor began her campaign for her son on the influential new york irish i adio pi mi idii . ¦ ¦ ireann amei i ¦ american opp itioi to the stormo here sic movin d i i !'¦ i i and ballymurph ¦ i ho ui anin islj identified assassins 1 provii ionals with sii li rity she recounted how ! '; < i isi tnal >, including n ighbou rs and school friends of her son carried oui thebru [.:! ¦ h ¦¦ ill mrs o'connor was joined by anthony mclntyre whose home was picketed and whose pregnant partner was verbally abused because he had conducted a prelim inary inquiry and called for a genuine impartial community inquiry to e i responsibility another participant was marion price from the republican prisoners welfare association who described the murder as a shoot-to-kill operation carried out by provisionals in support of british stormont rule press interviews mrs o'connor followed-up her inter view on radio free eireann with a series of press interviews including the irish i imes and the long-time journal of record for irish americans the irish echo again she out lined the circumstances of the murder credi bly and movingly at mid-week she attended a candle light vigil outside a chairde sinn turn to page 2 stateside fenian view....us president bush | and stormont page 8