MEDIA FREE MARIAN PRICE END INTERNMENT WITHOUT TRIAL

 Rotate photo  View full size

 30,394

10 days ago

Olympics London2012 Great Britain & North Korea http://brev.is/Cxa3

The 12th, Marian Price, gay issues... George Galloway talks tough in Belfast

By Jane Hardy
Thursday, 9 August 2012

George Galloway

•  ENLARGE

MP George Galloway has said that dissident republican Marian Price should be freed.

The politician was speaking last night at the Belfast Feile.

He told the West Belfast Talks Back session: “The courts freed Marian Price so she should be freed”, adding he did not support her “political line” and if she reoffended she should be charged and brought before the courts.

Mr Galloway then revealed he had just spoken to the 58-year-old prisoner, convicted of bombing the Old Bailey, while talking to her husband Jerry McGlinchey.

“I have just spoken to her on the phone for the first time and she's not a well woman,” he said. “For all the damning with faint praise, and Ruth Dudley Edwards' reference to her ‘remarkable recovery’ (after Price's 1973 hunger strike), the courts decreed she should be released and it's time to free Marian Price.”

Alongside Mr Galloway on the panel was a rainbow coalition of opinion-makers and politicians: DUP MP Gregory Campbell, author Ruth Dudley Edwards and Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly.

The first half of the debate discussed, without resolving, Syria and the Middle East question.

Opinion divided pretty much along sectarian lines, with Galloway and Kelly regarding Western inaction on Syria as hypocrisy and part of a ploy to destabilise Iran.

Gregory Campbell and Ruth Dudley Edwards, in different ways, pointed out the complexity of the situation and the fact that the situation after any Western intervention might not look better than before.

After broadening talk out to Israel and Palestine, Ms Edwards caused some hissing in the audience by suggesting the Feile might introduce an Israeli representative to “hear the other side”.

It then moved on to gay issues which led to some agonising from Mr Campbell, although his statement of concern that marriage between a man and a woman could be undermined by acceptance of the “lifestyle” of the lesbian and gay community received surprising support from George Galloway.

The Respect MP for West Bradford caused amusement by saying you couldn't promote homosexuality — “you either are or you aren't” — and adding that attendance at any number of Pride marches would not change his orientation.

The debate turned to recent trouble over July 12, with a discussion over whether the Orange Order should be banned following a band's misbehaviour and the singing of ‘The Famine Song’ outside a Catholic church.

Discussion was fierce, and intensified later between Messrs Campbell and Kelly over whether the former would ever shake hands with the latter.

You can only hope that these exchanges are in some way cathartic.

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/the-12th-marian-price-gay-issues-george-galloway-talks-tough-in-belfast-16195641.html#ixzz23AQvzGTb

Reply to Owen Paterson on Marian Price - 

 Irish Independent  Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Sandy Boyer in a letter takes the North of Ireland's political boss to task over hisGuardian letter which fed disinformation on Marian Price

Owen Paterson, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, has written a letter to the editor of The Guardian (London) attempting to justify imprisoning Marian Price. I’ve included his letter below.

Paterson makes two essential points:

• That Marian Price was released on “license”, parole in American terms, which he had the right to revoke.
• That he does not have the legal right to release her because it can only be done by the Parole Commission.

Unfortunately for Mr. Paterson, neither is true.

He claims she received a royal pardon “the Royal Prerogative of Mercy” for a 20 year sentence related to the Old Bailey bombing but was on license for a life term for the same bombing.

If so, this would have been a strange and meaningless order. Granting a pardon for a 20 year sentence while simultaneously releasing someone on license from a life sentence would have achieved absolutely nothing.

If Mr. Paterson seriously believes the royal pardon doesn’t apply to Marian Price’s life sentence, all he has to do is produce it. Instead he states that the only copy of the pardon has been lost or shredded. Marian Price’s solicitor, Peter Corrigan, says that this is the only time in the entire history of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy that a pardon has gone missing.

Paterson also states that he can’t release Marian Price because “It would be outrageous for any secretary of state to do anything other than adhere strictly to the law.”

But the Life Sentences (NI) Order 2001 proclaimed by “Her Majesty” provides explicitly that “The Secretary of State may at any time release a life prisoner on licence if he is satisfied that exceptional circumstances exist which justify the prisoner’s release on compassionate grounds.”

There could hardly be more “compassionate grounds” for releasing Marian Price. United Nations doctors who examined her in July reported she was “unable to comprehend the allegations being made against her to sufficient degree to inform her defence” and that “she would be unable to follow the evidence in her own hearing as she lacks the ability to attend to detailed evidence”. She is presently hospitalized with pneumonia.

If Owen Paterson is serious about enforcing British law, he should release Marian Price immediately.

Sandy Boyer
Free Marian Price Campaign, US

Owen Paterson letter to The Guardian

You refer in your editorial (Northern Ireland: keep focused, 28 July) to the case of Marian McGlinchey (nee Price). I should be grateful for the opportunity to set out the facts.

Marian McGlinchey received two life sentences in 1973 for her part in the Old Bailey bombing. She was subsequently released on licence in 1980. At the same time she was granted the royal prerogative of mercy (RPM) in respect of a separate conviction which carried a 20-year fixed term sentence. The RPM did not cover her life sentences.

All life sentence prisoners remain on licence for life. They can be recalled at any time if they breach the conditions of their licence or pose a risk of serious harm to the public. A similar system was endorsed by the previous government in the legislation to give effect to the part of the Belfast Agreement that dealt with the early release of prisoners.

Before revoking a prisoner's licence under the Life Sentences (Northern Ireland) Order 2001, however, the secretary of state must first seek a recommendation from the wholly independent parole commissioners. This is what I did in the case of Marian McGlinchey; their recommendation was that she was in breach of her life licence. Consistent with my overriding responsibility in Northern Ireland for public safety, and in accordance with the law, she was returned to prison.

The independent parole commissioners are now reviewing the case in full. If they are satisfied that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public that the prisoner should be confined, then they may direct the prisoner's release. The prisoner has full legal representation and can challenge the case made against her; Marian McGlinchey has yet to do this. The decision of the parole commissioners is final and cannot be overruled by the secretary of state.

It would be outrageous for any secretary of state to do anything other than adhere strictly to the law. Yet the clear inference in your editorial is that I should discard due process and interfere politically in this case. That would fatally undermine the rule of law in Northern Ireland. That is not something I am prepared to do.

Owen Paterson MP

Secretary of state for Northern Ireland

Battered Irish Husbands Increase as Katie Taylor Wins Olympic Gold

Battered Irish Husband

The Man Rules At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down

  Finally , the guys' side of the story.
( I must admit, it's pretty good.)
We always hear ' the rules ' From the female side.  

  Now here are the rules from the male side.   

These are our rules!
Please note.. these are all numbered '1 '
ON PURPOSE!  

1.   Men are NOT mind readers.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat.
You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down.
We need it up, you need it down.
You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want.
Let us be clear on this one:
Subtle hints do not work!
Strong hints do not work!
Obvious hints do not work!
Just say it!
1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question. 
1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do.
Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.


1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument.
In fact, all comments become Null and void after 7 Days.


1. If you think you're fat, you probably are.
Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the   other one 

1. You can either ask us to do something
Or tell us how you want it done.
Not both.
If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials..

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings.
Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched.
We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say 'nothing,' We will act like nothing's wrong.
We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, Expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine...Really . 

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as Motorcars ,

or Football 
or golf, or Darts etc.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape.   Round IS a shape!

1. Thank you for reading this.
Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight;
But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

Pass this to as many men as you can -
to give them a laugh.

Pass this to as many women as you can - 

to give them a bigger laugh.

Collapse of Money

The rich own the government and bought it a long time ago. It is essentially all organized crime or today fascism mark two There is not a lot of time left to figure out how to survive. Like growing our own food, raising chickens. The system is going to collapse on itself and it is simply inevitable. The best a human being can do is to love. Love is all, family, friends, dog and the earth. we have much to learn. Our earth needs us asking us to love and work. Not work as in some stupid job but building place for children to have live, have fun and witness something amazing. LOVE is our redeeming value as the human species and is our best weapon. We need to use it and live it or die

 The following is neither an ad or an endorsement but it seems interesting:

Loads of People requested that we re-send this letter to the Sheriff ... so here it is, again! Please feel FREE to pass it on to anyone that you feel needs it ... it might help them? See you all at the Lay Litigation day ... Des Want to know how to write a letter like this? a letter that gets results ... These letters (below) are well worth reading and studying. It's a real response to a real Sheriffs letter. It's simply a terrific example of one man/woman, who knows and understands the essence of Sovereignty, and where they stand upon the Island (we had some input). Read the Sheriffs letter first, then read the response. Then re-read the whole thing again and again. The response letter, was written by someone that has spent considerable time studying hard with us. There is no substitute for putting in the work. The response letter leaves the Sheriff nowhere to turn, or respond. Lean this stuff and more ... with us, at Lay Litigation Day. Saturday 11th. August 2012. From 8.30am Sharp to 6.30pm. Book your place ahead of time: www.LayDay.eventbrite.com/ The Sheriffs letter/application reads as follows ... "I hereby give you notice that a Decree herein has been lodged in this Office for the immediate execution against you. The amount due is £1,460.02. (Please see table below for details of debt.)" and continues ... UNLESS WITHIN FOUR DAYS from the date of receipt of this notice this amount be paid to me at this Office I shall proceed to levy the said amount together with Court Messenger's fees and mileage and, in the event of seizure and sale of your goods, poundage and all other extra expenses over and above the amount set out herein without further notice to you. and so on and so forth ...    The Response - Page 1 of 2 As follows ... NOTICE - Your Application is Rejected FAO: ..............................

..

County Registrar, County Sheriff and Magistrate,

Courts Service Office, Courthouse,

Cc:

Chief Justice Susan Gageby Denham, The Supreme Court of Ireland ...

Attorney General Marie R. Whelan, Office of the Attorney General ...

Minister Alan Shatter, Department of Justice and Equality, ...

Ken Murphy, The LAW Society of Ireland ...

APPLICATION REJECTED

Your Application is Rejected and Enclosed.

Ref: ------ 2012 | Your APPLICATION Dated: --------- 2012

Dear -----,

We hope this day finds you well. We advise herewith that “Your Application” is Rejected!If you wish to make another “Application”, please do so within ten (10) days of receipt of this NOTICE. Please answer all points contained and listed herein and copy to ALL parties listed herein.

1.       You are aware from correspondence on previous matters that we here; Fitzpatrick Financial Solutions represent the interests of -----------------------™ in all things financial. We are in receipt of your APPLICATION dated ----------- 2012.

2.       You are also aware that -----------------------™ is NOT in the State, and we herewith enclose a copy of the writ that was issued to you as Sheriff on the --------------- 2010 A.D. Therefore YOU, the State or the “National Roads Authority” cannot demonstrate Subject Matter Jurisdiction.

   

3.       Your application is confusing to say the least. We are unsure as to whom we are to address in response. Should we address YOU, as doing business as the County Sheriff? Should we address YOU, as doing business as the County Registrar? Or should we address YOU, as doing business as the Magistrate?

4.       Why did YOU not sign, your “APPLICATION” with your very own hand?

5.       Your application refers to an alleged “DECREE”. To be honest, we were unclear as to what exactly a “DECREE” was or is, so we looked it up. Apparently it is a reference used in and to “Admiralty LAW”. Just as a point of LAW, perhaps you could give us clarity as to how “Admiralty LAW” applies within the State, or within the Republic, or for that matter within a Sovereign Republic?

6.       We only had time to look up “DECREE” online, and this is what it is defined as …

“A judgment of a court that announces the legal consequences of the facts found in a case and orders that the court's decision be carried out. A decree in Equity is a sentence or order of the court, pronounced on hearing and understanding all the points in issue, and determining the rights of all the parties to the suit, according to equity and good conscience. It is a declaration of the court announcing the legal consequences of the facts found”

We must extrapolate from this definition that YOU, doing business as “the Magistrate” and your aforementioned “National Roads Authority” must have held a Court of some sort, or at least some sort of trial, hearing or meeting, where ALL parties to the allegations and points would have been present?

7.    Obviously YOU, doing business as the Magistrate in this context, YOU would and do act with the utmost integrity. Therefore we would be grateful for you to proffer to us, an original copy of all of the transcripts and records of that said Court Case, Trial, Hearing or Meeting. Equally we wish to examine all of the apparent affidavits and depositions of the witnesses that were called.

The Response - Page 2 of 2

8.       We are specifically interested in knowing the names and contact details of the witnesses that have “First Hand Knowledge” of the allegations that were proffered against --------------------™, if in fact such witnesses exist at all?

9.       Of course we are assuming that you followed all the proper and relevant processes and protocols applicable to holding a “FAIR” trial, hearing, court case or meeting under the Constitution of Ireland and under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

10.       It is a FACT that --------------------™ has no recollection or record of being invited to attend such a hearing, trial, court case or meeting. When and where did such an event take place, and why was --------------------™ not invited to participate or to defend?

11.       Equally it is a FACT that --------------------™ has NO CONTRAT and NO AGREEMENT and NO FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENT in place with your “National Roads Authority”, and has NEVER been presented with any such proposals or drafts.

12.       It is appropriate at this juncture to point out to YOU in the capacity of ALL your aforementioned offices, that --------------------™ is not in the State. You were made aware of this fact some time ago and in more recent times past. Can YOU answer as to why you would willfully choose to ignore the facts?

13.       With the greatest of respect to YOU and the Offices that YOU hold and do business as, we must point out that Barratry is a crime. If you are convicted of “Selling Justice For Money”, as is suggested by your enclosed Application, YOU must seriously consider the legal implications of your intentions and your actions as they stand.

14.       As an apparent “Officer of the Court” you have general and specific duties of care, to make sure that neither YOU, in ALL the Offices that YOU do business as, nor any second, third or incumbent parties make FALSE MISREPRESENTATIONS or FALSE DECLARATIONS. Which includes and is not limited to, the “National Roads Authority”, the State and or any of its Employees, Agents or Representatives.

15.       The mere FACT that YOU are doing business as the Magistrate, the Registrar and the Sheriff is a difficult one to reconcile, as it is hard to understand how YOU manage “Separation of Powers”. There is a very obvious and blatant “Conflict of Interest”, in that you are positioned to make “Immoral Financial Gains” by act and intention with the abuse of your powers.

16.       --------------------™ has no objection whatsoever to the State and or the “National Roads Authority”, or for that matter to YOU acting in your respective positions and offices, making a quick buck here and there. Equally, there is no objection to these legal entities sharing the resources of this Island. After all“Sharing is Caring”. Nonetheless, please do not assume that this gives you free-license to unlawfully attack a People that have an absolute right to Self-Govern and Self-Determine. It is unlawful and will NOT be tolerated in any context whatsoever.

Finally; you have ten (10) days to make a re-application on the basis that you address ALL of the points contained herein and copy to ALL parties listed herein. If you do not do so with the ten (10) days stipulated, we will consider this to be an end to the matter, and further that you are precluded legally and lawfully from making, progressing or taking any further or future actions in said matter.

Ignorance of LAW is no Defense.

Conduct Yourself Accordingly!

Yours  Faithfully ... 

This is teriffic letter ...

Learn more at Lay Litigation Dat

www.LayDay.eventbrite.com/

Katie Taylor Gold Medal Upsets Princess Anne

Che Guevara Galway Irish Times Debate

It’s easy in Cuba to find critics of the ageing but authoritarian Castro brothers, but Che Guevara is still revered, writes CONOR POPE 

THE HOWLS of outrage that have greeted tentative proposals to erect a memorial to Che Guevara in Galway have been both predictable and misplaced. It is entirely fitting that a sculpture honouring the most instantly recognisable, socially aware revolutionary of the 20th century be given a little space in the city.

The family of Che’s grandmother, Ana Lynch y Ortiz, fled Galway in search of a better life in South America in the mid-18th century. By the time their most famous son was born in 1928, the Lynches of Argentina had become comfortably middle class.

It is not simply because of loose family ties to the west of Ireland that a memorial to “El Che” would sit comfortably there.

Galway has long welcomed radicals. Noel Browne settled there after he was ostracised by the establishment for swimming against the tide, and through four decades the city repeatedly chose Michael D Higgins as its representative and watched with some satisfaction as he spent his pre-Áras career tormenting the right wing, challenging orthodoxies and supporting oppressed peoples at home and abroad.

There were furious protests against the visit to the city of US president Ronald Regan in the mid-1980s because of the US role in toppling democratically elected left-wing governments and propping up right-wing dictatorships across Central America. Galway has always been a haven for idealists, poets and dreamers.

Che, despite his flaws, was all three.

He was radicalised in his 20s by exposure to widespread poverty and corruption on a post-university road trip across Central America and quickly recognised that such inequities were a consequence of capitalism at its most crass and cruel.

He joined Guatemala’s social reform movement, but it was crushed in its infancy by the CIA, an organisation that developed a pathological fear and loathing of him. One former agent, Philip Agee, famously said there was “no person more feared by the Company [CIA] than Che Guevara because he had the capacity and charisma necessary to direct the struggle against the political repression of the traditional hierarchies in power in the countries of Latin America”.

Nearly 45 years after his death at the hands of the Company, he is still hated by some, and there have been dire warnings that the Guevara monument, if erected, would do untold damage to Galway’s reputation in the US. It won’t. Most Americans have far more important things on their minds and couldn’t care less if the city honours, in a low-key way, a long-dead revolutionary.

That does not stop the hysteria, however. It was turned up a notch this week on RTÉ’s Liveline programme. In the red corner was artist Jim Fitzpatrick, who was calm and lucid, while in the blue corner stood Declan Ganley, who labelled the revolutionary a “murdering psychopath”. Not to be outdone, Yale history professor and Cuban emigrant Carlos Eire compared him to Adolf Hitler.

A caller by the name of Eleanor, meanwhile, told Joe Duffy she had visited Cuba on six occasions and she suggested it was a utopian paradise.

Her comments were risible and utterly wrong. Cuba is by no means a socialist paradise – far from it. Political oppression and censorship are rife, travel is restricted, the regime spies on its citizens with an amateurish zeal that would be comical were it not so criminally repressive. State-sanctioned homophobia is rampant and a burgeoning sex trade sees wealthy tourists prey on those impoverished by a fatally wounded system.

But Ganley and Eire were wrong, too. For an Ivy League history professor to compare Guevara to Hitler is, frankly, ridiculous. Ridiculous but unsurprising. The far right in the US, particularly Cuban-Americans living in Florida, have long viewed Guevara as a monster and they rarely let facts get in the way of a good rant.

Nelson Mandela does not see him that way. He has described him as “an inspiration for every human being who loves freedom” and few people living in Cuba today will hear a word against him. It is easy to find critics of the ageing but still authoritarian Castro brothers – as long as the spies are out of earshot – but Guevara remains revered.

And so he should be. Cuba in the 1950s was bloated, corrupt and becoming a playground for wealthy US gangsters. There were huge disparities between rich and poor, and Guevara sought to end such inequities.

He tried and, while he did not succeed, and Castro’s Cuba never worked as it might have, things did improve significantly for its most oppressed people. It is one of the great tragedies of the 20th century that the country was never allowed to fulfil its great potential because of internal paranoia brought on, at least in part, by an unjust and malicious US blockade that has been widely condemned by governments of all hues across the world.

The longer the Castros have clung to power and the longer the US embargo has been in place, the more its people have suffered and the more desperate many have been to flee.

Cuba is a long way from where it should be, but that is not Che Guevara’s fault. He dreamed an entirely different dream for countries in the western hemisphere – and he should be remembered in Galway as its most famous and most influential son.

IRISH TIMES CHE DEBATE LINK HERE

Indymedia Ireland 41 Year Anniversary Internment Ireland

features events publish about us contact us traditional newswire Advanced Search

Publishing Guide Featured Stories Open Newswire Latest News Opinion and Analysis Press Releases Event Calendar Other Press Latest Comments Editors Picks Photo Gallery Audio Gallery Video Gallery Files Gallery News Archives Hidden Articles List Videos Campaigns Fracking about us | help us site documents Upcoming Events International | Rights and Freedoms no events match your query! New Events International no events posted in last week Other Press Rights and Freedoms Wisconsin Temple Gunman Was A Neo-Nazi 21:38 Aug 06 3 comments Bahrain riot police fire tear gas, stun grenades on protesters 12:54 Aug 03 2 comments The Government of Violence : A Massacre In Dandakaranya 18:06 Jul 16 1 comments Two die during Saudi Arabia protest at Shia cleric arrest 20:59 Jul 09 3 comments Undercover Reporter Infiltrates Security Firm to Expose London Olympics 13:46 Jun 29 0 comments more >> User Preferences Language - en | ga text size >>  make this your indymedia front page Feeds Blog Feeds Fetch failure forhttp://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/feed/. Last Retry Tuesday August 07, 2012 13:27 Fetch failure forhttp://dublinopinion.com/feed/. Last Retry Tuesday August 07, 2012 13:40 Fetch failure forhttp://www.irishleftreview.org/feed/. Last Retry Wednesday August 08, 2012 19:06 Fetch failure forhttp://www.mediabite.org/rss.php. Last Retry Tuesday August 07, 2012 13:25

International - Event Notice Thursday August 09 2012 04:00 AM 41 Year Anniversary Ongoing British Torture Internment  international | rights and freedoms | event notice  Thursday August 09, 2012 01:50 by BrianClarkeNUJ - AllVoices  Peace Process Without Due Process Forty one years ago in the early hours of the 9th August 1971 British soldiers introduced internment without trial, by kicking in the doors of hundreds of Irish homes at 4.A.M in the morning. Internment torture has been used by the British Government in British Occupied Ireland, in every decade since the creation of their sectarian based scum state, to suppress any form of genuine political opposition. Internment since the creation of British Occupied Ireland has happened in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and today as another Irish woman called Marian Price is dying, while many other republican suspects are imprisoned without trial. Despite the spin of a peace process the reality is a police state without due process ran on injustice, sponsored sectarianism and British bigotry. Maria Price of Justice ? These 'techniques' although now outlawed, following Britain's conviction at the International Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg, have been exported and used by Britain's allies throughout the world.The techniques were again used on Marian Price while held in solitary confinement last year. Marian was previously force fed and she is now dying from pneumonia and in considerable pain as a direct result of British torture. In Ireland in 1971 there was deliberate and careful use of modern torture techniques, not merely to get information but to perfect the system of Sensory Deprivation for use against civilians. The author, an ex-internee himself spent two years researching the book following his release from Crumlin Road jail where he had been held without charge or trial. In the newer edition he was able to name the torturers and those responsible. No member of the British Army or the Royal Ulster Constabulary has ever been convicted of torture or brutality to prisoners, although the Government was been forced to pay out over $5 million in compensation to torture victims. This is an account of the next eight days. It is taken from the victims' own words, in their statements to the Association for Legal Justice and from private interviews. First Joe Clarke, then aged 19, single, motor mechanic: "After being hooded I was led to the helicopter and I was thrown bodily into the helicopter. During this exercise my hands and wrists were hurt due to the others handcuffed to me not being pushed equally. (Before being led off to the helicopter, I understand that one of the hooded men, now known to be F. McGuigan, collapsed when the hood was first applied.) On being put into the copter, the handcuffs were removed and were applied to the back of the hood to tighten it around the head. The helicopter took off and a journey which I would estimate to have taken about an hour began. The helicopter than landed at a destination unknown to me and we were taken from the copter and led into a building and eventually into a room where I was made to stand in a search position against a wall. My position was the same as for other men – fully stretched, hands as far apart as humanly possible and feet as far from the wall as possible. Back rigid and head held up. Not allowed to relax any of the joints at all. If any relaxation of limbs – arms, elbow joints, legs, knee joints – someone came along and grabbed the limb in a rough manner and put it back into position again. After being against the wall for a few hours. I was taken away and brought, I was told, to a doctor. Sometime during this period I was taken out of this room, put into a helicopter and flown away. I was always handcuffed and hooded. When the 'copter landed I was put into a lorry, driven a short distance, transferred to a jeep, five-minute journey, put into another 'copter, taken for half-hour journey. End of journey put into a police van, driven short distance, five-ten minutes, beaten about the face and body, transferred to other vehicle. Holding my face, asked why, said that I did not want to be beaten again. Assured that I wouldn't be. Brought into a building, hood removed, shown detention form. Hood replaced, return journey as before The build-up to this collapse was frequent numbing of the hands which when it happened I closed my fist only to find that my hands were beaten against the wall until I opened my fingers again and put my hands back into position. On the other occasion I tried to rest by leaning my head against the wall but the response to this was my head was 'banged' on the wall and shaken about until I resumed my position. All the time there was the constant whirring noise like a helicopter blades going around. From the sound of this noise I would say that it was played into the room where I was because on the occasions that I was taken from this room even outside the door of the room the noise was noticeably vague almost to be inaudible. As I have said, I collapsed completely after that long period of time. I was brought round and carried out into the main room again and made resume my position as before against the wall. There then followed a series of collapses – I could not say how many times I collapsed. Initially my hands and legs were beaten whenever this happened and the insides of my feet were kicked until my ankles were swollen to almost twice their normal size. After a number of these collapsings I was then made sit on the floor, with my knees up to my chest, my head between my knees and my arms folded around my knees. In this position I was swayed backwards and forwards in order I presume to bring my circulation back. Whenever this was done I was put against the wall again in the original position. The noise was insistent, driving mental resistance to its utmost. I thought that I was going mad. This noise was the only noise one heard save the groans of the other people lined up against the wall. All the time that I was against this wall I got bread and water once and water alone on two other occasions. This was fed to me by the hood being lifted to my nose and bread and water was fed into my mouth in this way. I should emphasize that I was fed, I did not feed myself. The cup of water was put to my mouth and the bread was put into my mouth. I cannot possibly estimate for what duration I was against this wall and underwent the collapsing experiences and physical torture against this wall, but I would estimate that it must have been at least two full days and nights. During all of the time no sleep was permitted. At the end of the period I must say that I was extremely fatigued both physically and mentally. I was certainly verging on complete mental exhaustion, suffering delusions which were of nightmarish nature. I was taken out of this room – into another room where my hood was removed and I found myself confronted by two plain-clothes RUC SB men, one of whom was standing beside a table and the other was seated behind it. I was told by these men that I had asked to see them. I do not recollect ever having done so. I told them I did not ask for anyone. They then began to interrogate me. These men did not introduce themselves to me, so I do not know who they were. The hood was removed during this entire interview. These men interrogated me for a couple of hours. I should say that at the start of this interview I imagined that I was talking to my brother. At the end of this interview the hood was put back on again and I was put back into the other room and put against the wall. I asked where I was but I was told that I could not be told. As I was against the wall this time I was given a beating: kicked about the legs, a knee was stuck in the base of my spine and the hood was jerked back tight on my face, hurting my neck. I collapsed at the end of this beating. I was also punched in the ribs and in the stomach, as well as being nipped. I was brought round after collapsing and put up against the wall again. The nipping and punching on the arms and ribs commenced. At that I shouted Fuck off', and punched one of my assailants. I was then grabbed by a number of people and I was punched, kicked and kneed all over the body, stomach, ribs and back of my head. The hood was pulled tightly around my neck, nearly suffocating me. I was then put back against the wall. After a short time against it I collapsed. I do not know for how long I was out. The next thing that I clearly remember was sitting in this small room with the same two men as before, who again told me that I sent for them. The hood was taken off for this interview as well. This interview lasted only a very short time, a matter of minutes. I was re-hooded and taken out again into another room where I was beaten continuously for a long number of hours. During the beating I was asked questions concerning the IRA, naming various people, and they also asked me about arms dumps. During all of this time I was standing. Due to the beating – mostly about the body and head, not face – I fell unconscious. When I awakened I was lying on a floor and as I was waking I was being punched. During this period of unconsciousness I had a dream where a friend of mine – my fiancee's brother – bought a scrap-yard. Whenever I awoke and found myself being beaten I began to struggle – I kicked one person and punched another. I was then overcome – my hands were put behind my back and I was handcuffed in this position. There was an attempt to handcuff my ankles. I was then carried down a flight of stairs into a further interrogation – by a different person than previously. The hood was taken off. He told me that I had sent for him. I said that I did not but that I had asked for a priest. He told me that I would get no priest there. After a few questions I was re-hooded and led outside and into another room where I was made, hands still handcuffed behind my back, stand facing a wall with the crown of my head leaning against the wall. As I stood there my arms were pulled further back causing my wrists to be cut and torn. I was left alone in this room un-hooded for a few hours. This same SB Branch man came back in but was very gentle in the course of questioning. He would have questioned me for two to three hours. He then left me again alone in the room – this time for about six hours. He returned when it was morning and told me that I was going back in for a few hours. I asked him where and he said, 'to the jail'. He brought me into a washroom and helped me to shave and have a general clean-up. I was then brought to a doctor. I complained to him of dizziness and pain in my right knee. He bandaged it and gave me an examination. Then I was photographed in the nude both front and rear. I was given my clothes back when I got back to the room. I changed and, after about an hour, I was brought now re-hooded to a Land-Rover and then after a short journey of five to ten minutes was put into a 'copter. After about an hour's flying journey we landed. Taken out. I know now that I was landed at the back of the prison (Girdwood). Marched through a hole in a wall. Across a football pitch and then put into a jeep. Driven to a gate – transferred into another police jeep and driven to the prison reception. I asked in the prison reception, where I was weighed etc., what day it was and he told me Tuesday. I said that it couldn't be since I was in Girdwood on Tuesday but he told me that that was a week ago. After going through the formalities of reception I was put into a cell in the basement where I was kept until the following morning when I was transferred to C wing amongst the other detainees. Whilst in the basement I was given a meal – the first substantial food I received in over a week." It is worth noting that of the twelve men only Clarke physically resisted. After days of ill-treatment and goaded beyond control, he reacted with an attempt, albeit futile, to strike out at his captors and tormentors. Dr. Pearse O'Malley of the Mater Hospital, Belfast, who examined two of the 'guineapigs' while they were recovering in Crumlin jail from their ordeal, has explained[2] how during the intensive sensory deprivation, as the disorientation is prolonged, aggression is likely to manifest itself. In the case of Joe Clarke this took the form of trying to retaliate, but in the case of at least two other men the agression became inverted and they even attempted suicide, by throwing themselves head first at the water-pipes. Related Link: http://irishblog-irelandblog.blogspot.com/ Ballymurphy Internment 1971 Add Your Comments >> printable version with comments    Digg this    del.icio.us    Furl    Reddit    Technorati    Facebook << Back To Newswire

© 2001-2012 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy