Irish Republican Info Svc #210 8/18/97 id EAA12926; Wed, 20 Aug 1997 04:55:08 -0400 =========== Posted to multiple newsgroups and lists =========== ===== Redistribute *only* with full header and signature! ===== Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit IRISH REPUBLICAN INFORMATION SERVICE (no. 210) Teach Daithi O Conaill 223 Parnell Street Dublin 1, Ireland Phone: +353-1-872-9747; FAX: +353-1-872-9757; e-mail: saoirse@iol.ie August 18, 1997 Republican Sinn Fein homepage: http://iol.ie/~saoirse/rsf SAOIRSE homepage: http://iol.ie/~saoirse Release Josephine Hayden: http://iol.ie/~saoirse/hayden 1798 Ireland: http://iol.ie/~fagann/1798/ TAKING WESTMINSTER SEATS THE VITAL ISSUE IN A statement on Wednesday, August 13, Ruairi O Bradaigh, President, Republican Sinn Fein said that the action of the Provisionals in a British court in Belfast on Tuesday, August 12 regarding the oath of allegiance to the Crown shows clearly that their intention is to take part in the British parliament. He went on: "Like de Valera in the mid-1920s they are concentrating on the lesser issue of the oath while they apparently accept participation in Westminster which is an acknowledgement of the usurping English claim to rule in part of Ireland. "As has been forecast by Republican Sinn Fein since 1986, the Provisionals are slowly but surely being absorbed into the British system in Ireland. Gradually they have turned what was a revolutionary national liberation movement into a constitutional and reformist political party. Accordingly, they should relinquish the title Sinn Fein as did the Workers' Party/Democratic Left. "If the English people want an oath of allegiance to their Queen in their parliament, that is strictly their business. The legislature of another country is no place for Irish elected representatives. "Real Republicans deny the claim of the English parliament to rule here and do not concede that claim by taking part in Westminster," the statement ended. McGUINNESS ADMITS NO END TO PARTITION IN TALKS PROCESS SPEAKING at the Humbert Summer School in Ballina, Co Mayo on August 13 last, the Provisionals' Martin McGuinness admitted that "a united Ireland would not emerge from the current all-party negotiations on future constitutional and political structures for the north" according to a report in the "Sunday Tribune" newspaper on August 17. His admission, made during a debate with former Fianna Fail leader Albert Reynolds and Fine Gael's Austin Currie, was not reported in rest of the Irish media. Almost as revealing was the comments of the Provisionals' Alex Maskey on BBC radio on August 16 when he said that his organisation wanted a united Ireland but it "was prepared to look at transitional arrangements". O BRADAIGH SEEKS MEETING WITH CANADIAN OFFICIALS OVER TRAVEL BAN REPUBLICAN Sinn Fein President Ruairi O Bradaigh has written to the Canadian Embassy in Dublin asking for a hearing to obtain a "Minister's Permit" to travel to Canada. On August 8 last he was refused permission by airline officials at Shannon Airport to board a flight to Toronto. The officials said they were acting on the instructions of the Canadian High Commissioner in London. To date no correspondence has been received by O Bradaigh from the Dublin embassy regarding his request. Speaking to a reporter from the "Ottawa Citizen" newspaper in the Canadian capital onAugust 13 last Ruairi O Bradaigh said that he had always regarded Canada as "a very open society, a very free and liberal place where one could speak". The ban was arbitrary and a blow to freedom of speech. The newspaper revealed that Canada introduced a new immigration law in 1993 which can deny admittance to "anyone who is or was a member of a group that there are reasonable grounds to believe is or was engaged in terrorism". Canadian Immigration spokesperson Huguette Shouldice told the "Ottawa Citizen" that the IRA "is such a group". Ruairi O Bradaigh was sentenced by the Dublin Special (non-jury) Court in 1973 for membership of the IRA. AHERN "FAILS TO ARTICULATE NATIONALIST ANXIETIES": AOH LEADER SPEAKING at the main AOH rally in Carnlough, County Antrim on Friday, August 15, Ancient Order of Hibernians national secretary Frank Kieran criticised 26-County prime minister Bertie Ahern. "It was a matter of concern" he said that Ahern said recently that Articles 2 & 3 of the 26-County Constitution would be on the table in any talks about the future of the Six Counties. The Dublin administration leader had drawn attention only to changes in the constitution called for by the unionists and the British but "had failed to articulate nationalist anxieties about the Union of Britain and Ireland Act 1800 and the Government of Ireland Act 1920". Unionists had nothing to fear from a United Ireland, he said. "We in the AOH are still working towards our legitimate goal of a United Ireland. Equality of treatment is what is required in all aspects of life in the Six Counties for every person young or old. No matter what creed they belong to," he said. The AOH leader insisted that an internal Six-County arrangement would not be acceptable but unfortunately finds himself caught up in the tangled web of the British-controlled "peace process". Earlier he told the rally that he was "inviting all shades of unionism" to take part in the talks process. "Everything is to be gained by all sides sitting down and working out a just and lasting peace". "No community has the right to dominate the other," he said. This talks process can only lead to an internal settlement since it leaves the demand for a British withdrawal out of the equation. BRITS HAND OVER McALISKEY DOCUMENTS BRITAIN'S vindictiveness in exacting revenge on staunch campaigner for Irish national independence Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, through the use of her daughter Roisin, advanced to another stage on August 15 with a court order that private documents belonging to Roisin McAliskey be handed over to the German authorities. Britain's supremo in Occupied Ireland, Mo Mowlam, "nominated" Belfast Crown Court to hear the application under Section 4.2 of the 1990 Criminal Justice Co-operation Act following two requests from German authorities in November of last year and May this year. It is of course the British who decided all of this from the start. The word co-operation in the name of the act is very apt as the Germans are only too happy to take their part in this cruel game at the behest of NATO ally Britain. "The Germans want to examine two notebooks, a Collins 1995 diary and a provisional licence application form", alleged to contain the handwriting of Roisin McAliskey. Roisin's solicitor Barra McCrory objected that at least one of the books should not be handed over. The British judge, Justice Campbell, said the court's discretion was limited in the matter since British supremo Mo Mowlam had seen fit to nominate the court. The Germans are to apply again in September for the extradition of Roisin. The 25-year-old Tyrone woman is still on bail in Whittington Hospital, London where she has been since May with her baby daughter Loinnir. INQUIRY CALL INTO BRITISH CROWN FORCES ATTACKS ON GARVAGHY ROAD RESIDENTS A HUMAN rights group has called for an independent international inquiry into the behaviour of the British police (RUC) on the Garvaghy Road in July. The Table Campaign, which describes itself as an organisation of "international solidarity groups and individuals" sent three observers to Portadown at the invitation of the Garvaghy Road Resident's Coalition. The decision to allow the march proceed down the Garvaghy Road was wrong, the observer's report said, adding that the military operation which accompanied it was "a psychologically violent and traumatising experience for the residents of the area". They went on to say the RUC "in their demeanour, stance and facial expressions showed a lack of restraint and impartiality towards the civil population of the area. Reports of comments insulting towards the Roman Catholic faith are disturbing". The observers interviewed other eyewitnesses, including one man who had been hit in the neck with a plastic bullet. The man claimed a nurse tending his injury was also hit despite prior protestations to the RUC. The report calls for a ban on the use of plastic bullets. RUC members received #6 million extra overtime during the month of July according to figures by the Six-County Police Authority. A spokesperson for the authority said normal RUC overtime would be about #4-5 million in July. This July, however, it rose to over #10 million. LVF PRISON PROTEST PRISONERS belonging to the pro-British LVF death squad staged a roof-top protest and burned furniture and bedding on August 13. About ten of the 27 LVF prisoners began the rooftop protest about prison conditions in the morning on the roof of H-Block 6. The prisoners eventually left the roof and went back into the block where they started burning furniture and bedding and erecting barricades. Seventeen INLA prisoners, who are housed in the same block as the loyalists, were removed after one was attacked and injured by the LVF prisoners. The protest ended during the night. In the aftermath of the protest, among the debris caused by the burning and destruction, journalists on a tour organised by the prison authorities found a miniature mural engraved on a radiator  Fred Flintstone was depicted holding a rifle over the motto: "Yabba-dabba-doo, any Fenian will do". Road signs in the picture pointed to Harryville (Ballymena) and to the Garvaghy Road, Portadown and the Falls and lower Ormeau Roads in Belfast, all nationalist areas. There were a number of gun and petrol bomb attacks on prison warders' houses coinciding with the LVF prison protest. Gunmen opened fire with an automatic weapon on the Portadown, County Armagh home of a former warder. Petrol bomb attacks were also made on the homes of warders in Craigavon, County Armagh and Dungannon, County Tyrone. There were no reported injuries in these attacks. NO PRISONER RELEASES SAY BRITS THE British administration in the Six Counties said on August 12 that early releases of political prisoners there are not being considered at the moment. Meanwhile an expert on the legal system in the Six Counties said on August 11 that there were no legal obstacles to freeing political prisoners. Kieran McEvoy, assistant director at Queen's University's Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice, said the conflict in Ireland had witnessed many precedents for the early release of prisoners. Two Provisional prisoners were released from Portlaoise by the Dublin administration on August 13. Sean McNulty, an Irish political prisoner in Britain was transferred from Frankland prison in England to Long Kesh. McNulty, from County Tyrone, was sentenced to 25 years in 1984. He was firstly transferred from Frankland to Maghaberry prison near Lisburn, County Antrim on August 14. He was moved to Long Kesh on August 15. BAIL DENIED TO DEPORTEES SAN Francisco Judge Charles Legge announced on Friday, August 15 a decision he had made the previous Monday that he was denying bail applications to two H-Block escapers while they appeal his order extraditing them to British tyranny. The two, Terence Kirby and Paul Brennan, were then ordered to be jailed. Although the two men, along with Kevin Barry Artt, have complied with all conditions of bail they had not shown a high probability of success on appeal or any of the other unusual circumstances needed to gain bail after an extradition rder, Judge Legge said. The three were arrested in California between 1992 and 1994 and held for extradition. They remained in jail until Judge Legge granted them bail in January 1996. While both Kirby and Artt claim they were tortured into signing confessions, the judge said the interrogators might not have satisfied US standards but he refused to "disturb" their convictions. The three vowed to continue with their appeal against Legge's decision and a rally has been called to support them. People have also been urged to write to President Bill Clinton demanding he call a haltto the proceedings. GRAFFITTI THREAT TO "BURN OUT TAIGS" SECTARIAN graffitti was daubed on derelict houses on Black's Road in west Belfast on the night of August 12-13. One of the houses had been abandoned by the nationalist Lismore family in 1995 following more than 50 sectarian attacks on them and their house. The Lismore house and a neighbouring unoccupied house were daubed with slogans saying "Taigs stay out or be burned out", "All Taigs will be burned out", and "Any Taigs moving in here will be burnt out". The Lismores had been forced to move following persistent attacks from loyalists on the Suffolk estate. Following this year's Orange march on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown on July 6 there was stone-throwing and petrol bombings in the area at the interface between Suffolk and the nationalist area. Four houses occupied by nationalist families were targeted by loyalists who fired missiles through their windows. DUFFY CASE APPEAL TO EURO COURT THE Committee for the Administration of Justice (CAJ) has requested the European Commission to use procedures reserved for emergency cases to order the British government to release Armaghman Colin Duffy. CAJ legal officer Paul Mageean said on August 13 his group was taking the action because it was believed Duffy could become another miscarriage of justice. Duffy was charged with the killing of two RUC members on June 16. He had previously served three-and-a-half years in prison before being released ten months ago when the appeal court overturned his life sentence for the killing of British soldier John Lyness in June 1993. In all he has spent a total of almost five years in custody in relation to various charges which were either withdrawn or dismissed by the courts. The CAJ urged the commission to "order" the British government to immediately release him. COLLUSION EVIDENCE IN DEATH SQUAD KILLING IN TYRONE THE Committee for the Administration of Justice (CAJ) is to submit a report to the United Nation's Rapporteur on Summary or Arbitrary Executions on the UDA/UFF British-backed death squad killing of a nationalist in 1991. The CAJ says there are aspects of the killing of 33-year-old Patrick Shanaghan which suggest collusion between the British police (RUC) and the death squads, including that the RUC apparently knew about the killing 30 minutes before it occurred. Patrick Shanaghan from Aghnahoo, County Tyrone died in August 1991 after a single gunman riddled his van with bullets as he drove to work. An RUC member had been sent to the scene 30 minutes before the shooting took place. When the killing did occur just one RUC vehicle was sent to the scene. At an inquest, which was not held until five years later, witnesses reported that despite Shanaghan still being alive following the shooting  his head and hands were still moving  the RUC did not call an ambulance. The RUC had twice told Shanaghan that loyalists were going to kill him. There was an attempt on his life in February 1989 when eight shots were fired at him as he left his home. He survived by diving into a nearby field. In December 1990 the RUC told him that Crown Forces documents including a photomontage and a file on his personal details had fallen out of the back of a British army lorry and were now in the possession of loyalists. The CAJ has taken the step of going to the UN group because of "restrictive laws and high court rulings" which have been used to prevent the coroner from dealing with the question of British Crown Forces collusion in Shanaghan's killing. LURGAN FAMILY SUBJECT TO CROWN TERROR ON August 14 a Lurgan, County Armagh, family were subjected to a terrifying ordeal when a British colonial police (RUC) terror squad burst into their home in Beechcourt at 8.30pm. Father-of-three John Lewsley (31) was sitting on the sofa with two friends when he heard an "unmerciful bang". "I jumped up and ran for the children. The next thing five or six policemen were in the hall, all wearing body armour and using flashlights under the barrel of their guns . . . One put the gun to my head and said get f . . .ing back," John Lewsley said. His two friends were forced to the floor while his six-year-old son Patrick was pinned against the wall. "He was squealing and they told him to shut up." John Lewsley claims the colonial police shouted abusive and threatening language at his children aged six to 11 and threatened to shoot him "if I made any move". The terror squad ransacked his home, upturning furniture, mattresses and clothing in the children's rooms as the children looked on in horror. At no time did the colonial police show a search warrant according to John Lewsley but instead proceeded to a search and wreck campaign of his house. A second terror squad, who were "armed to the hilt", then entered the house and subjected the family to a repeat of their ordeal, except this time the terror squad, although wearing RUC uniforms, "had English accents. About 10 Land Rovers were in the street and police cars," John Lewsley said. His daughter Danielle's room was wrecked and her stereo-system knocked from its table. * Addendum, Aug 19, 1997: FERMANAGH ARRESTS TO MARK MEN OUT FOR FURTHER HARASSMENT REPUBLICAN Sinn Fein views with concern the recent arrests by the RUC of two Fermanagh members of the organisation. The arrests took place early on Thursday, August 14 and the two men were taken to Gough Barracks, Armagh where they were held for 36 hours under Section 14 of the Emergency Provisions Act. They were later released without charge on Friday evening, August 15. At least one independent councillor in Fermanagh has stated that the arrests were because of Republican Sinn Fein's opposition to the current process. This is also our analysis and it is clear that the arrests were designed by the British Crown Forces to set people up as targets for intimidation and harassment. It also places them in serious physical danger because of the ongoing collusion between the British Crown Forces and pro-British death squads. Republican Sinn Fein's analysis of the current process as leading to a New Stormont rather than a New Ireland remains valid and we will continue to press for a public British declaration of intent to leave Ireland as the only basis for a just and lasting peace. -- ENDS -- Please circulate the information in IRIS and credit us if reprinting. We welcome your comments and ideas. Send them to: saoirse@iol.ie ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytire-08.20.97-04:55:09-8494