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Interned in Occupied Northern Ireland printable version

22 Aug 2011: posted by the editor - United Kingdom, Northern Ireland

by Seán Ó Murchú
British cabinet minister appoints secret commission with power to revoke parole of political prisoners just for being accused

After 40 years, internment without charge or trial has returned to the occupied North of Ireland.

In August 1971, the British army picked up and imprisoned 342 men who were believed, often erroneously, to be key members of the Irish Republican Army. They were never charged with any crime, but a committee that met in secret and gave no reason for its decisions could only release them.

Today, it is former political prisoners who are being interned. A British cabinet minister, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, is revoking their “licenses”. They aren't charged with any crime, and he has given no reason for ordering them back to prison except that they're a "security risk" or a "danger to society."

A commission appointed by the same minister can review their cases. The prisoner can present evidence, but this is essentially meaningless since they have never been told why they're in prison in the first place. The commission can meet in secret. The only reason they need to give for refusing to release a prisoner is that he or she is a "danger to society."

Brendan Lillis who has only now being released was according to the commission a "danger to society." Lillis, whose license was revoked in 2009, suffers from a bone disease that has fused his spine. He hasn't been able to get out of bed in nearly two years and will probably never walk again.

Another political prisoner, Martin Corey, has no idea why he is back in prison. He was imprisoned for IRA activity in December 1973 when he was 19 years old. He was released in June 1992, returned home, established a business and formed an ongoing relationship. He became a highly respected member of his local community in Lurgan, County Aramgh.

In the early hours of April 16, 2010, almost 18 years after his original release, the police appeared at Martin Corey's door and took him away to prison. He wasn't charged with any crime and wasn't told what, if anything, he was supposed to have done. He was simply informed that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland had revoked his license because he was a "security risk."

More than a year later, Martin Corey is still interned. He was recently told that he’d be in prison for at least another year because his application for release has been denied, and he can't reapply until next year.

Corey is a member of Republican Sinn Fein, a legal political party throughout Ireland. It is opposed to the present power-sharing administration in Northern Ireland because it believes the administration perpetuates British rule. This can be used to justify Martin Corey's internment because he is a "dissident republican" and "a threat" to the Northern Ireland peace process.

Marian Price, the only woman political prisoner in Northern Ireland, was interned in May. She had appeared in court on a charge of "encouraging support for an illegal organization." The judge granted her bail, but the police detained her before she could even leave the courthouse.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland revoked her license from a conviction dating back to 1973. According to the Belfast Telegraph, the minister said that she posed a threat that had "significantly increased" in recent times. Price is a leading member of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement.

She is in solitary confinement in an otherwise all-male prison. There are serious concerns about her health. Imprisoned in Britain in 1973, Price went on hunger strike and was force-fed more than 200 times. After she was returned to the North of Ireland, Price developed severe anorexia nervosa and was freed by the British government because they were afraid she was about to die. Today, she is suffering from crippling rheumatoid arthritis.

There are probably hundreds of former political prisoners in occupied North of Ireland who have been released on license. Any one of them could be interned indefinitely at any time for any reason.

In addition on the 30th Anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strikes we have Republican POW’s incarcerated in Maghaberry Prison on dirty protest over the failure yet again of the British Government to implement an agreed upon document to stop strip searches.

The document in question outlines the way to resolve the issue, and I quote from the report: 'the installation of two BOSS chair systems would remove the core area of contention while establishing the highest possible level of security. It would guarantee a more humane search regime and reduce the stresses that arise around full body searches under current procedures.’ The politicians have allowed the situation to deteriorate to the point where now the situation within the jail is critical. The POWs are on 24-hour lock-up; they are not allowed visits, showers, and education or yard time. They are existing (one could hardly call it living) in their tiny cells with excrement smeared on the walls. Once again, human rights don’t apply to ‘these’ people.

Ending internment and getting Political Status re-instated won't be easy or quick. It will only be won by a movement that brings together everyone who is willing to support political prisoners, whether or not they agree with them politically.

Republican Sinn Féin - Munster now calls for a campaign for the decent treatment of Republican prisoners, a recognition of their human rights and support for the release of those prisoners now interred. People right across the political spectrum should come together to mount a major campaign on behalf of the prisoners

Tags: Internment, Northern Ireland

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