Ramsey Clark on Roisin McAliskey Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit "Jay Dooling" source:Thu, 6 Nov 1997 06:57:39 -0600 Interview with Ramsey Clarke Re: Roisin RE 10/25/97 00:00 >From WBAI RadioFree Eireann http://www.wbaifree.org/radiofreeeireann/roisin.html Interview with Ramsey Clark By Sandy Boyer On Radio Free Eireann Saturday, October 25, 1997 SB: We have on the line with us the former Attorney General of the United States Ramsey Clark, who has just completed an investigation into the case of Roisin McAliskey. Ramsey, you're very welcome to WBAI. Could you just tell us a little bit about what you've discovered in your investigation ? RC: Thank you, Sandy. I think the three main things we concluded were first, that there was absolutely no eidence to support an arrest warrant from Germany for Roisin McAliskey - they had no evidence that she was even there, or that a woman who was supposed to have been with the group who was there, did anything that was criminal. Second, that the motive of the arrest was political: she was arrested because she's the daughter of Bernadette Devlin McAliskey. And third, that the British government's role in this arrest And the violation of the human rights of Roisin McAliskey, endangering her health and actually risking her baby's life, will impair any hope for reconciliation and peace if the British government doesn't address the question immediately and release her. SB: I believe that you actually checked where Roisin was at the time that the German extradition warrant alleges she was in Germany ? RC: Yes we did. The warrant itself on its face was suspicious, because all it had was one of four people who claimed to see the woman in the group that was believed to have fired on the Quebec barracks near Osnabruck Germany, but when we checked with people in Belfast and Coal Island, in places that Roisin was in the end of 1996, we established without any question that she was there. The dates that the warrant specifies as being the time of activity of this woman who had given the name "Beth" near the Quebec barracks in Osnabruck, were October 14 to October 28 of 1996. At that time Roisin was employed as a superintendant of an office for an organization called Irish World in Belfast. When you talk to her supervisors, they say it was impossible that she wasn't there, that she was there every day, they had memories that she was there every day, they had records that she was there every day, they had forms that she completed that are still available that show she was there every day, because she had to report on about 15 employees, on their time for compensation, and her own time for compensation, that they had phone records of calls that were made to her from other parts of the Irish World activities that showed she was there, in addition to people who worked with her, people who knew her, friends and neighbors and others who identified specific days and interestingly, and by chance, June 28th, which was the day of the attack when these three mortors were to be fired, according to allegations, on this British base in Germany, Roisin was without question on Coal Island. And the reason that people can remember that date is that it was the date of an annual fundraising event for a major organization supporting children - orphans and daycare centers and things like that. And they specifically remembered her being there and even could describe the pot plant that she brought! JM: Ramsey, what kind of coverage did you get - did you get any coverage in either Ireland or England ? RC: We had press conferences at the conclusion of our work in both Belfast and London, and they were pretty well covered. The one in Belfast was scheduled unfortunately the same afternoon that Tony Blair was there and that pulled a good bit of the press away, but we still had good coverage. The one in London was at the House of Commons, and we had good coverage, including TV. SB: Ramsey, we know this has already come to the attention of the British Cabinet Minister who rules Northern Ireland, Mo Mowland, and I believe that you are communicating with the impartial chairman of the Peace Process, George Mitchell ? RC: That's right. I think for Americans that it's absolutely imperative that we cause our government to take a strong stand. Because if you permit this young woman to be held in prison when it's clear she's innocent, was not involved, but was arrested because she's the daughter of a very great human being and Irish patriot, then what hope is there for peace ? I mean from either side - one side will say "your daughters will bomb us so we can never trust you", and the other side will say "you arrest our daughters so we can never make peace, so we just have to fight each other." But the motive of the arresting people is tragically clear, for instance, they held her for 7 days, from the 20th to the 27th of November last year, and they questioned her from 8:00 o'clock in the morning to 1:00 o'clock the next morning. And during that entire time they never asked her a thing about the allegations from Germany. They had no interest whatsoever in what might have happened - they probably knew nothing did happen in Germany - and their entire effort, once they had her in their clutches, was to try to get her to confess in a general way - to no specific act - but merely to participating in organizing terrorist activities in the United Kingdom. Because that would give them enormous public relations mileage - "here's the daughter of one of the great Irish patriots of all time, and she's now confessed to being a terrorist!" And it's not true, but it would have been a great publicity coup for those who want the struggle to continue, and those who want to put the Irish down. SB: Ramsey, we want to thank you very much for taking the time to come on, and for undertaking this mission. Jay Dooling (jdooling@worldnet.att.net) Irish Aires - 90.1FM KPFT in Houston http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Irish_Aires/homepage.htm Dooling & Mabe, CPA http://www.doolingmabe-cpa.com/ ================================================================= 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-11.07.97-08:42:33-4210