Irish Republican Information Service (no. 80)
Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill, 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1, Ireland
Phone: +353-1-872 9747; FAX: +353-1-872 9757; e-mail: saoirse@iol.ie
Date: 20 Meán Fómhair / September 2006
 
Internet resources maintained by SAOIRSE-Irish Freedom
 
 
Irish Republican Information Service
THE body styling itself ‘Limerick Republican Information Service’ is not connected with the Irish Republican Information Service (IRIS), 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1, email saoirse@iol.ie and has not been authorised either by IRIS or by the body that sponsors IRIS, Republican Sinn Fein. Therefore it is totally unauthorised and should be regarded as such.
 

In this issue:
1. Rally and fast at Dublin’s GPO in support of Republican prisoners
2. Maghaberry POWs undertake 72-hour fast
3. Revelations over files ‘no surprise’
4. McCord report to be ‘uncomfortable for British government’
5. Hain backs loyalist project grant
6. Nationalists fare less well in Six Counties - report
7. RUC/PSNI attacked in Belfast
8. Petrol bombing at police station
9. March on first anniversary of Terence Wheelock’s death
10. Basque political prisoner on 45 days on hunger strike
11. Families voice concern about Irish prisoners in Britain
12. Call to halt aid to Israeli academic bodies
13. Invasion was based on fake reports - Blix
 
1. RALLY AND FAST AT DUBLIN’S GPO IN SUPPORT OF REPUBLICAN PRISONERS
 
ON Saturday, September 16 Republican Sinn Féin held a 12-hour fast and a rally at the GPO in Dublin’s O’Connell Street, in support of the Republican prisoners protesting for political status in Maghaberry jail.
 
The fast began early on Saturday morning under the portals of the GPO and members of RSF distributed leaflets, took up a petition and explained the position to the many people who showed interest.
 
The rally began with a march from the Garden of Remembrance in Parnell Square at 2pm, led by the piper from the Glens of Antrim and a Republican Sinn Féin colour party. Proceedings on the island opposite the GPO were chaired by Joe O’Neill, Bundoran, RSF Ard Chomhairle, who introduced Vice-President Des Dalton.
 
Josephine Hayden read a letter from the Republican prisoners in Maghaberry. Joe Murphy, Ballinlough, Co Roscommon spoke and recalled the sacrifices of the H-Block hunger strikers and pointed out that the political status won by them had been sold out by the Stormont Agreement of 1998.
 
Naoimh White, Newry, addressed the meeting on behalf of the Republican Prisoners Action Group (RPAG) and outlined the conditions the prisoners were being held under and their demands. Pat Quirke, Co Kerry then spoke and he called on people to support the prisoners in their struggle for justice. He said that Kerry and Mayo would be playing in the All-Ireland Football final the next day and said that the two counties had something in common - the first Patron of Republican Sinn Féin had been Comdt-Gen Tom Maguire of Co Mayo and the present Patron was the redoubtable Dan Keating (104) of Co Kerry.
 
Joe O’Neill then summed up and called on people to support the Republican prisoners. The rally concluded with Amhráin na bhFiann. The fast continued until 7pm.
 
2. MAGHABERRY POWS UNDERTAKE 72-HOUR FAST
 
IN A statement on September 19 the Republican Prisoners’ Action Group said Republican POWs in Maghaberry jail commenced a 72-hour fast on Tuesday, September 19.
 
The statement continued: "The situation in Maghaberry has now reached crisis point. A representative of the Archbishop of Armagh met with the prisoners last Tuesday, however conditions in the jail have not improved.
 
"The Republican Prisoners’ Action Group has organised a picket in Newtownbutler, Co. Fermanagh, on Saturday, September 23 at 1.30pm and calls on everyone to support the demands of the Republican prisoners.
 
"The RPAG has also launched a website at URL: http://www.freewebs.com/powstatusnow"
 
It was reported in a Belfast newspaper on September 9 that the British Northern Ireland Office (NIO) had confirmed that "some prisoners had returned their televisions and have been refusing to go to the gym or eat in their cells".
 
3. REVELATIONS OVER FILES ‘NO SURPRISE’
 
On September 14 the Irish News (Belfast) revealed that the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) has been unable to locate up to 1,000 RUC files relating to killings over the period from 1969.
 
The admissions over missing files follow a series of similar damaging revelations relating to the RUC/PSNI having failed to properly retain evidence in murder cases.
 
Those included former RUC detective Eric Anderson’s admission that he had held onto murder files after retirement; the admission that the RUC/PSNI destroyed the jumper of UVF murder victim Gavin McShane after it was judged to be a ‘health hazard’.
 
Other admissions included the fact that the RUC destroyed the car used in the UVF gun attack on Loughinisland, Co Down which left six people dead and that evidence relating to the SAS shooting of three Provisionals in Co Tyrone in 1991 was destroyed after it was claimed to have been contaminated by asbestos.
 
The Historical Enquiries Team (HET) said they could not directly comment on the claim RUC files on nearly 1,000 deaths were missing. However, a spokeswoman admitted the team had faced problems finding some RUC files.
 
"From the outset it has been clear, that due to the passage of time, the bombing of police establishments and now outdated practices that one of the challenges facing the HET project would be collecting all the available information in relation to 3268 deaths which occurred over a 30-year period," she said.
 
 As well as RUC files, the HET has been relying on court files, public records, British Army and British MoD files, data held by non-governmental organisations and open source information, such as books and newspapers from the time.
 
Relatives for Justice director Mark Thompson described as alarming the fact that some RUC members were able to take files home with them. He said the fact so many RUC files were apparently missing was evidence of "systematic" destroying and concealing of evidence by the RUC and he queried whether the files in question are related to so-called collusion or shoot-to-kill deaths.
 
4. McCORD REPORT TO BE ‘UNCOMFORTABLE FOR BRITISH GOVERNMENT’
 
BRITISH supremo in the Six Occupied Counties Peter Hain on September 18 predicted that an upcoming report on police handling of a murder by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is likely to be "extremely uncomfortable for the British state".
 
The British Police Ombudsman Nuala O`Loan is due to publish a report on the RUC/PSNI handling of the murder of Raymond McCord junior. The 22-year-old former British RAF man was beaten to death and his body dumped in a quarry in Newtownabbey, County Antrim, in 1997.
 
His father, Raymond McCord senior, mounted a constant campaign for an investigation into the British colonial police handling of the murder claiming that it was carried out by UVF members who were RUC informers and who had been protected from prosecution by their handlers.
 
5. HAIN BACKS LOYALIST PROJECT GRANT
 
ON September 19 British supremo in the Six Occupied Counties Peter Hain said that the British is to fund the first stage of a new so-called conflict transformation initiative in loyalist areas.
 
The project was proposed by the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG), which advises the loyalist death squad the Ulster Defence Association. The initial stage of the project will last up to six months, and the £135,000 fund will employ project workers.
 
6. NATIONALISTS FARE LESS WELL IN SIX COUNTIES — REPORT
 
A BELFAST-based civil liberties group has criticised Six-County British direct rule ministers for specifically targeting social need in deprived loyalist areas when official reports, which the British ‘Northern Ireland Office’ (NIO) had seen, "objectively" illustrated that Catholics were still worse off than Protestants.
 
The Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) cited a number of detailed studies for its argument that Protestants suffered fewer disadvantages than Catholics, particularly in terms of jobs, housing and financial aid. It also suggested that the British government was ignoring or suppressing this information.
 
The 208-page CAJ report, Equality in Northern Ireland- the Rhetoric and the Reality, said there was "clear evidence" the view that disadvantaged Catholic areas were better able to cope than similar Protestant areas was "myth". Deprivation in Protestant and Catholic areas must be tackled equally, it said.
 
In recent years, several unionist politicians and loyalist representatives have contended that disadvantaged Protestants suffer greater discrimination that disadvantaged Catholics when it comes to redressing inequality and deprivation.
 
In 2004, the then British minister for social development in the Six Counties, John Spellar, now replaced by David Hanson, established the Taskforce to Address the Needs of Protestant Working Class Communities. The British NIO also opened up a controversial and well-publicised channel of communication with leading loyalists, including loyalist death squads, around this period.
 
The taskforce project was "misconceived", according to the CAJ report.
 
"Its creation implies that Catholic disadvantage either does not exist or has been adequately addressed and is a historical problem. It also implies that government shares the view of those Protestants who claim that Catholics have disproportionately benefited from government measures to date and that past injustices must now be remedied," it stated.
 
Quoting a report commissioned by the Six-County department for social development, it said Catholics were more likely than Protestants to live in areas with weak infrastructure.
 "While Catholics make up 57 per cent of the population of these weak community infrastructure areas, they make up only 44 per cent of the total population," it said.
 
7. RUC/PSNI ATTACKED IN BELFAST
 
A CROWD of up to 150 people hurled debris from a builder’s skip at the RUC/PSNI as rioting erupted in the New Lodge district of Belfast on the night of Sunday, September 17. Eleven members of the RUC were hospitalised as a result of the rioting.
 
Two of the British colonial police hurt suffered serious wounds - one woman was cut in the face and a male colleague was taken to hospital with abdominal injuries.
 
Trouble flared when a stolen car collided with an RUC/PSNI Land Rover in the area. As the driver was being arrested, missiles began raining down on the British police, who used CS spray and batons to drive back the crowd.
 
8. PETROL BOMBING AT RUC/PSNI BARRACKS
 
ON Saturday, September 16 petrol bombs were thrown at an RUC/PSNI barracks in west Belfast. A crowd of youths also threw bricks and stones at British police vehicles at the New Barnsley station.
 
9. MARCH ON FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF TERENCE WHEELOCK’S DEATH
 
THERE was a large turnout on September 16, the first anniversary of the death of Terence Wheelock who died as a result of injuries received in Garda custody.
 
About 500 people from the Seán McDermot Street and Summerhill community turned out in support of the Wheelock family’s demand for an independent inquiry. The protest was preceded by a mass in Seán McDermot Street church. Other groups that came to show their support included activists with Residents Against Racism, Working Class Action, Labour and the Workers Solidarity Movement. The family of John Maloney also came out in solidarity as well as independent TD Tony Gregory, Ciaran Perry, and other local representatives.
 
Larry Wheelock addressed the crowd and was followed by Joe Costello speaking on behalf of the local public representatives and Ciaran Perry then spoke.
 
He said: "Terence Wheelock died on September 16, 2005, from injuries he sustained on June 2, 2005 while in the care and custody of the gardaí at Store Street garda station in Dublin.
 
"For three long months Terence Wheelock fought for his life in intensive care at the mater hospital. Finally his family made the distressing and tough decision to turn the machine off.
 
"One year on from his death the family organised this public meeting to highlight the many unanswered and disturbing aspects of this tragic case. In that year the family has suffered intimidation, harassment, and assaults by gardaí in their own home in the centre of Dublin.
 
"Also in the year, 16 months after the appalling injuries Terence suffered, the extent of these injuries are only coming to light. His injuries were consistent with a severe beating, defence marks and blunt trauma to the brain, also bruises to his back and legs were all consistent with some sort of assault at the time of his arrest.
 
"To date the Gardaí have failed to answer any of the disturbing questions surrounding Terence’s arrest and detention and subsequent death.
 
"Why was the cell renovated immediately after Terence’s removal, despite a court order by a solicitor to inspect the cell.
 
"Why did it take 10 minutes (by gardaí’s own admission} to ring emergency services.
 
"Why won’t the gardaí return Terence clothes to his family?
 
"Why where there bruises on his body and severe brain injuries consistent with blunt trauma?
 
"Why were the family driven across the city to the wrong hospital?
 
"Why was the custody record doctored and interfered with?
 
"Why was Terence found in a hallway of the station and not in the cell by emergency services?
 
"To date none of these questions have been elaborated on, nor explained. The gardaí did release a press release but none of its content explains how Terence managed to bore through solid concrete with his bare hands, in what gardaí themselves call suicide safe cells.
 
"Nor those it answer or explain any of the above questions in to this deeply disturbing death, furthermore the press release contents elaborate on the damage to a car and property, something Terence Wheelock was never charged with. This has failed the family and has raised more questions than answers and has severely damaged the gardaí’s reputation in the area and the wider community as a whole.
 
"In that year it has also been revealed that the internal garda investigation, by a so-called independent investigator, namely Garda Oliver Hanley who himself served 15 years at Store Street.  He has had TWO roles in this case. For the last 16 months he has objected to the release through the courts of Terence Wheelock’s clothes to the family. It is quite strange why he is doing this. The family want them independently tested. The withholding of these clothes has held the inquest up and caused further heartache to the family.
 
"The gardaí have been quite callous and cold towards the family garda. Oliver Hanley never consulted the family with regard to his independent investigation. Amazingly it has come to light in the coroner’s court, that Terence’s clothes HAVE NOT been test by the state forensic lab at the Phoenix Park. Instead what has come to light is they have not even been properly or securely stored, instead they have sat in a garda locker at Blackrock garda station for 15 months and have not to date been tested. The more reason why these clothes should be released to the family for tests as contamination could easily occur outside a lab."
 
10. BASQUE POLITICAL PRISONER ON 45 DAYS ON HUNGER STRIKE
 
ON August 7, 2006 Basque political prisoner Iñaki de Juana Chaos began a hunger strike to demand his right to be released. Iñaki de Juana should have been released on October 25, 2004, after serving his sentence in full and having spent 18 years in jail. However, the Magistrate at the First Penal Court of the Spanish Audiencia Nacional (Spanish Special Court) Gómez Bermúdez, issued a decision dated October 22, attempting to contest the remission Iñaki was entitled to and to stop his release .
 
In view of the impossibility to maintain this line of argument, the judge decreed his remand in custody for an alleged crime of membership of an armed group and terrorist threats.
 
The basis for the accusations were two opinion articles the prisoners sent to the daily Gara . This is despite Audiencia Nacional judge Santiago Pedraz finding  where Iniakde Juana expressed his support for the Basque National Liberation Movement -BNLM- which "is not comparable to ETA". He added that "this movement is not defined as a terrorist organisation" and therefore the crime of issuing terrorist threats was not proven.
 
Following this decree the Spanish media unleashed a campaign against the judge’s decision. The Spanish Minister for Justice,  stated "We shall build new charges so that they are not released!" The State General Prosecutor, Cándido Conde Pumpido,
said "We shall continue to oppose his release insofar as it is legally possible" and appealed Pedraz’s decision. As such a new request for a 96-year prison sentence was put forward by these bodies.
 
In these circumstances, Iñaki believes he has no other way forward but to go on an open-ended hunger strike, even if he it takes him to his death. Therefore, we are calling for active solidarity towards Iñaki and we are issuing a call to international public opinion to denounce the lack of legitiamacy of the new charges against him and to demand his right to be released.
 
This is a call to all groups and people in solidarity, to express their protest to Spanish consulates and embassies and to send their messages to the addresses of the following people, directly responsible for Iñaki deJuana Chaos’ situation.
 
Help save Inaki’s life. A protest rally will take place on Saturday, September 23 at the European Commission office, Windsor House, Belfast at 12.30pm.
 
11. FAMILIES VOICE CONCERN ABOUT IRISH PRISONERS IN BRITAIN
 
FAMILIES of Irish prisoners abroad raised their concerns about what they say is the increasingly hard-line attitude of the British state towards Irish prisoners during a private meeting with the 26-County president Mary McAleese on September 15.
 
Growing concern had been expressed about moves to deport Irish prisoners when they have served their sentences, despite the fact that they may have spent most of their lives in Britain and have reared families there.
 
Concern has also been voiced about the indefinite detention of these prisoners after they have served their sentences, while the British Home Office considers them for deportation.
 
It is not known how many Irish prisoners have been deported or are about to be deported, but the Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas (ICPO) said the number of calls it received had "risen drastically" in recent months.
 
Fr Gerry McFlynn, director of the ICPO’s London office, said the deportation issue escalated in April after the then British Home Secretary Charles Clarke said that more than 1,000 foreign national prisoners who should have been considered for deportation had been released.
 
"Having made such a monumental mistake, they decided to go to the other extreme and hold all foreign nationals", he said. At that time, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said any foreign nationals convicted of an imprisonable offence should be deported.
 
"It’s now the case that all foreign nationals including EU nationals are now being detained well beyond their release date which technically is illegal," Fr Gerry McFlynn said. "It’s causing a considerable amount of distress confusion and worry not just to the inmates but to their families.
 
"We’ve met guys who were due to be released, their families were outside the prison gates waiting on them and they were told by a prison officer on the way out that they weren’t going anywhere. They could be detained for two or three months."
 
He also warned that the blanket approach to deportation was in breach of the new EU Citizens Directive signed into British law in April. It says that any EU citizen who has lived in Britain for 10 years should not be deported unless there were "imperative grounds of public security".
 
Fr Gerry McFlynn said there were about 900 Irish prisoners in British prisons from throughout the 32 Counties. He said the Irish living in Britain were in a unique situation as many of them had never taken out British citizenship. The ICPO has encouraged people with relatives in prison abroad to contact the organisation. The email address is ipco@iecon.ie or phone 01-5053000
 
12. CALL TO HALT AID TO ISRAELI ACADEMIC BODIES
 
A GROUP of 61 academic has called for the introduction of a moratorium on support to Israeli academic institutions both at Irish and European level, in light of the ongoing situation in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.
 
In a letter published in The Irish Times, on September 16, the 61 signatories note there is "widespread" international condemnation of Israel’s policy of "violent repression" of the Palestinians in the occupied territories, and its "aggression against the people of Lebanon".
 
"The Israeli government appears impervious to moral appeals from world leaders and to long-standing United Nations resolutions," the letter states.
 
"We feel it is time to heed the Palestinian call to take practical action to pressure Israel to comply with international law and basic human rights norms."
 
Among the signatories to the letter are: the noted historian Dr Ruan O’Donnell, Prof Luke Gibbons, Dept of English, University of Notre Dame, Dr Brian Hanley, Dept of Modern History, Trinity College Dublin, Dr Cathal McCall, School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy, Queen’s University Belfast, Dr Kieran Allen, School of Sociology, University College Dublin, Prof Seamus Deane, Institute for Irish Studies, University of Notre Dame and Harry Browne, School of Media, Dublin Institute of Technology.
 
The letter states that many national and European cultural and research institutes regard Israel as a European state for the purposes of awarding grants and contracts. This includes those funded by the EU, it says.
 
"We call for a moratorium on any further such support to Israeli academic institutions, at both national and European levels," the letter states.
 
"We urge our fellow academics to support this moratorium by refraining, where possible, from further joint collaborations with Israeli academic institutions.
Such a moratorium should continue until Israel abides by UN resolutions and ends the occupation of Palestinian territories."
 
14. INVASION WAS BASED ON FAKE REPORTS - BLIX
 
APART from the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the invasion of Iraq had turned into "a tragedy", former United Nations chief weapons inspector Dr Hans Blix said during a visit to Dublin.
 
He described intelligence reports used to justify the invasion as "faked based".
 
"A brutal dictator was toppled. The rest remains a tragedy. How could it happen?" Hans Blix asked an audience at the Institute of European Affairs, on September 13.
 
A former Swedish foreign minister, Hans Blix came into sharp conflict with the Bush administration and its allies in 2003 because he could not corroborate their claim that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction.
 
However, Hans Blix was seen to be vindicated after the invasion, when no stockpiles of weapons were discovered.
 
"The disasters in Iraq and Lebanon show the consequences of an exaggerated belief in and reliance on military surgery," he said.
 
"The war in Iraq also shows us the consequences of ignoring international fact-finding. Rarely have the reports of international fact-finders, views of NGOs and public opinion been ignored as before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The world was told that the invasion would lead to the ‘moment of truth’. It did, and the truth was that that there were no weapons of mass destruction.
 
"Most had been destroyed already in the early 1990s. In 2003 a state and a people were thus sentenced to war and invasion on erroneous grounds, on ‘faith-based’ even-’fake-based’-intelligence."
 
He outlined the scenario which led to the invasion as follows: "A few spies and many defectors became chief sources of information, and misleading reports were accepted by governments that looked for arguments for armed action more than truth."
 
ENDS