IRISH REPUBLICAN NEWS
http://republican-news.org
Friday-Thursday, 6-12 July, 2012
1. PARADE CHAOS IN BELFAST
2. Legal turmoil as Martin Corey's bail release overturned
3. Problems mount for Boston College journalists
4. Violence follows 'Eleventh Night' bonfires
5. Attempt to recuit informer at Derry hospital
6. Minister shamed over private hospital deal
7. Feature: Remembering Martin Hurson
8. Analysis: Price and Corey prisoners of MI5-spun web of deceit
------------------------------
>>>>>> PARADE CHAOS IN BELFAST
The sound of gunfire echoed across north Belfast on Thursday night
following disturbances over an incendiary and bitterly opposed sectarian
parade.
The route through nationalist north Belfast had been forcibly cleared by
the PSNI, who beat and shoved residents away from the parade route
before the first march took place in the morning.
The parade through the Catholic Ardoyne area was one of hundreds held on
Thursday by the Protestant Orange Order to mark a 17th century
Protestant battle victory over Catholics.
Serious trouble broke out immediately after the 'return' parade passed
at around 4.30pm. One vehicle was burned out and some petrol bombs
thrown. An unknown number of plastic bullets were fired by the PSNI
police while water cannon was also used as clashes broke out.
Members of local residents group, the Greater Ardoyne Residents
Collective (GARC) appealed for calm, and rioting ebbed briefly as a
pre-planned protest by GARC then took place along the same road which
the Orangemen had just marched down.
However, loyalists (including some known paramilitaries) who had
gathered just meters away immediately rioted and violently attacked the
GARC protest.
As events deteriorated, fireworks, petrol bombs, stones, bricks and
bottles were hurled at police lines, while a second blazing car was
driven up to create a second barricade. At one point, armoured PSNI
vehicles were driven at speed through the streets in an apparent attempt
to clear the area. A blast bomb was thrown at the PSNI vehicles, while
one protestor was reported to have suffered a severe beating at the
hands of the police.
Serious disturbances continued in the Brompton Park area of north
Belfast late into the night. The PSNI confirmed reports of at least ten
gunshots as trouble intensifed, but said there were no injuries.
Trouble also broke out in other areas. Disturbances in Craigavon saw a
bus set ablaze. In the Bogside area of Derry, rioting continued into the
early hours of the morning with at least one car burned out, while
petrol bombs and stones were thrown at the PSNI. There were reports that
the home of the new Sinn Fein Mayor of Derry, Kevin Campbell, was among
those raided by the PSNI overnight.
Expectations of violence had increased during the week following
criticism by unionist leaders over the conditions placed on the Orange
parade in Ardoyne. In particular, they vehemently opposed a decision by
the Parades Commission, which adjudicates on the route of contentious
parades in the North, to have the 'return parade' completed by 4pm.
Orange lodges from across Belfast typically march to and from a large
central gathering known as 'the field' every 12th of July, the
anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne. Almost all of the trouble in
recent years has stemmed from the return evening journeys, when tension
is typically higher.
This year, the decision to bus the Orangemen into nationalist north
Belfast to march the return route exacerbated and increased the
provocation for residents.
Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams said he agreed with loyalist leader Jackie
McDonald that the Orange Order need to "look seriously" at the issue of
return parades.
Mr Adams said a decision not to return past Ardoyne would have
"transformed" the situation in North Belfast and would not have
prevented the Orangemen and loyalists "participating in and enjoying
their celebrations". He also called on the Orange Order to enter into
dialogue with local residents.
"There has been much good work done in North Belfast on the parading
issue in recent years. This work needs supported not undermined," he
said.
"However the Orange Order needs to step forward and make their
contribution to the peace process.
"Genuine dialogue is the only way to resolve this issue. Recently we saw
positive examples of that with the Orange leadership addressing the
Seanad in the Oireachtas for the first time and Martin McGuinness
meeting Queen Elizabeth II.
"Regrettably the Orange Order still refuse to meet the residents of the
Ardoyne area. Respect is a two-way street and if the Orange Order wants
respect from nationalists then they need to respect host communities and
treat them as equal citizens."
In a statement, GARC praised their members and supporters for conducting
themselves with dignity and respect in their protest.
"Today we witnessed yet again the Loyal Orders being granted permission
by the Parades Commission to march through our area, despite the wishes
of the overwhelming majority of the residents of this area stating their
opposition to such open expressions of sectarian bigotry taking place
within this community."
The group strongly condemned the PSNI's actions.
"They attacked residents returning to their homes in the morning, failed
to protect residents in the immediate aftermath of the Orange Order
return parade from attack by loyalists, tried to ensure a stand off
situation would develop into violence on two separate occasions.. and
totally failed to protect GARC marchers from loyalist paramilitary
attacks on the Crumlin Road.
"They had previously stated that they would 'robustly enforce' the
Parades Commission's 12th determinations, and ensure marchers and
protestors would be fully protected.
"What today has demonstrated is that while they robustly defended the
Orange Order marches, they were more than willing to see the people of
Ardoyne and their supporters attacked.
"This again reinforces the majority view within the Ardoyne area that
the PSNI is a sectarian militia there to protect those who support the
state, while permitting attacks on those who stand up for their rights."
------------------------------
>>>>>> Legal turmoil as judges overturn Corey's bail release
Irish political dissident Martin Corey remains in jail this weekend
after a Belfast High Court decision to release him was initially
blocked by the British government before being controversially
overturned by the Court of Appeal.
An appeal proper is to be heard on September 28 -- leaving Mr Corey
behind bars for more than two months.
Two years ago, Mr Corey, a 61-year-old interned without trial, was
locked up on the basis of unseen information allegedly in the hands of
the British government. This information is variously referred to in
court as 'secret', 'confidential', or 'closed'.
In a High Court hearing on Monday, Justice Treacy surprised observers
of the North's notorious judicial system when he challenged a recent
decision by the Parole Commissioners to continue Mr Corey's internment
without trial.
He ruled that imprisonment of Mr Corey on the basis of 'secret' evidence
amounted to a breach of his human rights -- and granted him
unconditional bail.
But as Mr Corey was due to be released to his family, the British Direct
Ruler Owen Paterson personally intervened to ensure he remained behind
bars. The decision stunned the political establishment, and forced the
mainstream media into censoring their own news reports.
The veteran republican's legal team was then forced to take legal
proceedings to appeal the refusal of the British authorities to
implement the decision of the Court.
Karen Quinlivan QC, for Mr Corey, said the legality of her client's
detention was in question.
"For too long this man has been detained in custody without access to a
proper lawful review," she told the Court of Appeal on Wednesday.
However, the court ruled that Justice Treacy did not have the power to
grant bail. It said it had received "extensive submissions" from the
authorities, without further explanation.
"In our view, having regard to our conclusion that there was a
connection between sentence and detention, the learned judge who granted
bail, understandably in light of matters open to him and not having the
same extensive submissions on authorities we have had, did not have the
power to do so in the particular circumstances of this case," said
Justice Declan Morgan.
Martin Corey wasn't present at the hearing but contacted a friend from
Maghaberry prison twenty minutes after it had ended. He was not
surprised at the decision. In his words "He expects little, and has
learned to accept less."
Although the court refused leave to appeal their determination to the
Supreme Court, Mr Corey's lawyers said they will still attempt to make a
direct petition.
REACTION
Sinn Fein Assembly member Raymond McCartney, vice-chair of the Stormont
justice committee, said: "Owen Paterson's negative interference in the
due process is an affront to the justice system in the north and will
damage confidence in that system.
"Justice Treacy granted Martin Corey unconditional bail and that is the
judgement that should stand."
The Chairperson of the Release Martin Corey Committee, Cait Trainor,
said that contrary to some reports, the British government had simply
overturned the initial court ruling without entering an appeal.
"They arbitrarily overturned the decision of the first court; it was
Martin Corey and his legal team who had to take legal proceedings to
appeal the refusal of the British Secretary of State to implement the
decision of the Court," she said.
"While Martin Corey sat in the reception of the prison with his
belongings waiting for his family, the British government underhandedly
intervened and blocked his release."
Mr Corey's niece, Elaine McConville, who was among those who travelled
to Maghaberry in the expectation of her uncle's release, said her family
had been "devasted" by the week's events.
She said her mother "couldn't even talk for crying".
"What they have done on him is a disgrace and what they have put his
brothers and sisters through past few days is unbearable," she said.
The Release Martin Corey Committee said it would be once more lobbying
all those concerned with human rights and justice to take action to
secure his release.
"We would ask all those who have worked so far to continue and urge
people to take a stand against tyranny and oppression.
"The Committee will lobby nationally and internationally. We have to
expose the double standards of the British Government to human rights;
while they complain and state they oppose human rights abuses in various
countries, they in fact themselves are guilty of human rights abuses
against people who dissent from British rule in Ireland.
"In the year the British are hosting the Olympics, they show a face to
the world of righteousness and morality, the world must now see the
truth: British rule in Ireland can only result in the oppression of the
Irish people and those with independent thought.
"It must be remembered that Martin Corey is interned with no charge, no
trial but on secret allegations by unknown people that the British
Government refuse to present."
Commenting on the developments, eirigi Runai Ginearalta Breandan Mac
Cionnaith said: "What has been witnessed over the past three days is
nothing short of an unprecedented farce.
"It is a clear case of the British government literally arranging the
bench in order to get a decision that it is happy with.
"Any sense of fairness, lack of prejudice or integrity which one is
supposed to associate with any system of justice has been totally absent
in the Martin Corey case.
"While the responsibility for Martin Corey's continued internment lies
directly with the British government, the Six County judicial system is
not without blame either. That system is the same judicial system that
upholds injustice through its operation of non-jury Diplock courts.
"That judiciary has this week proven itself to be a willing and integral
tool in the implementation of British government policy."
Mr Mac Cionnaith blamed Sinn Fein and the SDLP who he said had "endorsed
and supported cosmetic changes to the justice system" and provided "a
smokescreen cover for such blatant injustice".
"Those parties cannot be allowed to merely dismiss Martin Corey's
continued internment as being the result of 'British interference in the
due process'.
"The judicial system, which has now play its part in Martin Corey's
continued internment, is part of the structures which those parties
endorsed and which they heralded as 'a new beginning'.
"There can be no escape from that fact, however unpalatable that may be
for some to admit."
------------------------------
>>>>>> Problems mount for Boston College journalists
Efforts to prevent a peace process 'research project' being used to
prosecute and jail senior republicans suffered a setback this week
following a court ruling in Boston.
Interviews with former republican prisoners, which form part of the
Boston College Belfast Project carried out between 2001 and 2006, have
been the focus of a prolonged legal battle.
Under a court ruling last weekend, an interview with Dolours Price,
sister of interned political dissident Marian Price, must be handed over
to the PSNI next month.
It has been alleged that the interview implicates Sinn Fein President
Gerry Adams in IRA actions.The interviews were carried out by former
political prisoner Anthony McIntyre and New York-based journalist Ed
Moloney.
A number of other former IRA members gave interviews on condition they
would not be made public until after their deaths.
Mr McIntyre and Mr Moloney have argued the release of the tapes could
damage the peace process and put lives at risk.
Last week, legal representatives for Mr McIntyre, who lives in County
Louth, said they will seek leave to apply for a judicial review in
Belfast in a bid to stop the PSNI pursuing the interviews -- on the
basis that such a move would put their client's life in danger.
In a separate legal battle, Boston College is attempting to block PSNI
access to seven other interviews carried out with former IRA members as
part of the project.
Mr Moloney said the latest court move has put his life and the life of
Mr McIntyre in danger.
"As Eamonn [his solicitor] put it, the IRA could well target Mr McIntyre
for having conducted these interviews and subject him and his family to
violent reprisals. This action by the PSNI has put his life in danger,"
he said.
------------------------------
>>>>>> Violence follows 'Eleventh Night' bonfires
The annual period of sectarian strife surrounding the July 12th marches
saw an increased number of loyalist 'Eleventh Night' bonfires.
The giant bonfires are lit on the eve of the 'Twelfth', and were
traditionally used to intimidate nationalists.
Loyalists traditionally place Irish tricolours or other nationalist
images on the bonfires as a declaration of intent, and celebrate as the
flags and icons are consumed by flames.
In New Mossley in Belfast, the bonfire -- estimated to be the largest in
the North this year -- stood at more than 100ft tall. Other massive
structures were erected in areas such as Mount Vernon in north Belfast,
the Cregagh estate in the east of the city and on the Shankill estate in
west Belfast, where the bonfire rose to around 90ft and is expected to
burn for days.
In most cases tyres -- which give off toxic fumes when alight -- were
placed on the bonfires as efforts to organise more environmental
'beacons' were abandoned.
The placing of a white coffin on top of a bonfire in Newtownabbey,
County Antrim was seen as an unusual threat, while the bonfire in east
Belfast carried a giant poster with the traditional message K.A.T.,
meaning Kill All Taigs [Catholics].
A number of incidents took place in the hours following the setting of
the fires, as intoxicated loyalists sought Catholics to attack.
A house in the Drumlough Gardens area of Lisburn was set ablaze shortly
after midnight on Thursday morning when a petrol bomb was thrown at the
house. There was also a major overnight blaze in south Belfast which
caused a house in the Holylands to partially collapse.
On Saturday, two men, aged 19 and 29, were attacked in the unionist
Westland Road area at around 5.30am. The two men received slash wounds
in an incident also believed to be connected to sectarian tensions.
LURGAN HOAX
In a separate incident, there was trouble in Lurgan on Wednesday after a
van was driven up to the main PSNI base in the town. It followed news
that interned local man Martin Corey would continue to remain in jail,
despite receiving unconditional bail.
The van was hijacked in the Lurgantarry area of the County Armagh town
at around 5.40pm on Wednesday before the driver was told to proceed to
the PSNI police station in the town.
A series of controlled explosions were carried out by the British Army
on te abandoned van before it was declared a hoax.
------------------------------
>>>>>> Attempt to recuit informer at Derry hospital
The 32 County Sovereignty Movement has condemned what it said was a
recruitment attempt by British MI5 agents which took place at the breast
cancer unit at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry.
The targeted individual had been sitting with his three-year- old son as
his wife was receiving treatment for breast cancer, when he was
approached by a woman who engaged in small-talk.
The woman asked for directions to the reception -- which was directly in
front of her. But the man really grew suspicious when another man who
he recognised from a previous approach stepped out from behind her.
The MI5 man said he wanted "a chat". The British agent stated that they
were there to "save lives" so to talk to them.
The man told them to get away from him "loudly" and they retreated from
the scene. But the female agent then returned and dropped a contact
card.
On exiting the hospital, a Mitsubishi jeep circled the young family in a
threatening manner.
"This woman has been suffering from a life threatening illness and
receiving treatment in a supposed place of sanctuary," according to a
statement by the 32 County Sovereignty Movement.
"She has been a victim of RUC/PSNI harassment all the while through her
treatment for breast cancer, suffering baiting and house raids together
with the run of the mill harassment that Republicans and their families
suffer on a daily basis.
"The fact that approaches were made as she was being treated shows that
there are no lengths the British fascists will not stoop to in their
harassment of Republicans."
They urged people to remain vigilant and report any approaches in person
or by email.
------------------------------
>>>>>> Minister shamed over private hospital deal
Sinn Fein has strongly challenged the leadership of the Labour Party
this week after the 26-County Minister for Health James Reilly was
publicly named in Stubbs Gazette over a 1.9 million euro bad debt.
Dr Reilly was forced to fly in from Cyprus to explain several aspects of
his involvement in a property in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary,
where a nursing home is located. His dealings resulted in him not only
being named in the Stubbs' list of debt defaulters, but also accused
over an apparent conflict of interest.
The Minister's involvement in the Green Hills nursing home, along with
several others, including former Fine Gael Councillor Anne Devitt, took
advantage of a lucrative tax break.
Earlier this year the High Court ordered Dr Reilly and four others to
buy the nursing home for 1.9 million euro, but the debt was never paid.
In his statement to the Dublin parliament, Dr O'Reilly said he was now
attempting to sell off his embarrassing investment. But Sinn Fein's
Jonathan O'Brien dismissed the Minister's statement as "ten minutes of
legal bluster".
Although Dr Reilly's name had appeared in Stubbs Gazette because he had
breached a High Court order, he had given no indication as to when he
would comply with it, Mr O'Brien said.
The Minister's declaration of interests was untrue, he added.
"[The Minister] is presiding over hundreds of bed closures in the public
nursing sector while being an acknowledged stakeholder in a private
residential care home," said O'Brien.
While there was an occasional mutter from their coalition partners in
Fine Gael, the Labour backbenchers, usually at the ready to heckle Sinn
Fein, remained silent.
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said the inclusion of Dr Reilly's name in
Stubbs Gazette was "unprecedented" for a government Minister.
He pointed out that between January and May of this year, 296 public
residential care beds had been closed.
"It is a fact that the Minister for Health is taking decisions which
benefit private health care.
"If the Minister has a personal investment in private health care
provision the question must be asked is he a suitable person to be
Health Minister?"
------------------------------
>>>>>> Feature: Remembering Martin Hurson
------------------------------
Martin Hurson became the sixth republican to die on hunger strike on
this day in 1981. In this archive article by Connla Young for Daily
Ireland, his fiancee recalls the place where the couple grew up.
------------------------------
To a stranger travelling through east Tyrone, the black flags and
life-size posters hanging from telephone posts may arouse a mild
curiosity.
To those closer to home, the images of Martin Hurson's smiling face mask
a hurt that has cloaked this close-knit community for a quarter of a
century.
The area's landscape has changed little since Hurson died on hunger
strike on July 13, 1981.
A few new houses dot the rolling hills around Galbally where the Hurson
family scratched a living from their modest farm. However, a new
generation of young people has grown up in the district, relatively
untouched by the 30-year conflict that raged during their parents'
youth.
People in their 20s and younger know Martin Hurson's name but, for them,
the events of the hunger strike are from a different time. Even so,
tucked away in the belly of the rugged Tyrone countryside, a memorial to
the hunger strikers tells of the place that Hurson and his nine comrades
will always hold in the hearts of those who knew them.
At the time of his death, Hurson was engaged to Bernadette Donnelly from
the nearby village of Pomeroy. The pair met at the wedding of Hurson's
cousin Sean Kelly and Bernadette Donnelly's sister Mary Rose Donnelly in
1975. Within weeks, they were inseparable.
Now, 25 years later, Bernadette Donnelly has returned to the place where
she and Martin Hurson grew up. She has brought with her a vast
collection of personal letters sent by Hurson while he was on the
blanket protest in Long Kesh. Almost 80 letters and a number of intimate
poems reveal the depth of the couple's relationship after Hurson was
sentenced to 20 years in November 1977. He was arrested 12 months
earlier, along with other young people from the Galbally area.
The wounds of the 1981 hunger strike remain raw for Bernadette Donnelly,
while the anniversary of his death provides more cause for reflection.
"For the last few weeks, I have been looking at a lot of stuff I have.
"He wrote me a lot of letters and seven or eight love poems. I met his
sisters and brothers this week and showed them what he had written. It
was the first time they had seen them. It was really tough for them. We
were crying and laughing," she says.
The grief Bernadette Donnelly feels over her fiance's passing was
exacerbated by his quick demise. After 46 days on hunger strike, Hurson
died more quickly than his comrades.
"He died so quickly. It was unexpected so I didn't get to say goodbye.
The last time I saw him was about seven or eight days before he went but
I really didn't think he was going to die.
"I used to write to him every week. My letters were about three pages
long so he asked me to cut them down to a page. On my last visit with
him, he was looking side on at me, which made me think he had double
vision.
"The difference with Martin and the other men was how quickly he went.
Other families got five or six days with their loved ones before they
died. We didn't get that," she says.
Bernadette Donnelly was refused permission to visit her fiance as he
slipped into the coma of his final hours. The grey steel gates of Long
Kesh were slammed in her face by cold-hearted prison officials.
"Brendan Hurson and me were at a H-block march in Armagh when Malachy
McCreesh, brother of Raymond, came over and said that Martin had taken
bad. A Galbally man, John Campbell, drove Martin's brother Brendan,
Bernadette McAliskey and myself straight to Long Kesh. Neither Brendan
nor me had ID and they were not going to allow Brendan in.
"His sister and father were already there with him but found it hard to
watch him. They told Brendan that, if his father identified him, they
would let him in but not me. I was engaged to get married to him but
they wouldn't let me in.
"Bernadette McAliskey pleaded with them to let me in but they wouldn't
because they said I wasn't family. I just put my arm on Bernadette's arm
and said to her: 'They shot you six months ago. Just leave it and I'll
get in tomorrow morning.' They even threatened not to let Martin's
brother Francie in when he arrived," she says.
She returned to the Hurson home in Tyrone and arranged to travel back to
Long Kesh with them the following morning.
"I was at my sister's house getting ready to go and see Martin when I
put on the seven o'clock news," she recalls.
"They just announced that he was dead. I thought I was going to see him
then I found out he had died at 4.30am. His sister was driving down the
road when she heard it on the news as well. That's how we heard it."
Hurson's death brought a heartbreaking end to any hope of a shared life
for the young couple.
"We had intended to get engaged the Christmas after he was arrested but
we had to put that off. At the start, he didn't take many visits but, as
time went on into 1978, he began to take more. He used to talk about
getting out and spoke of how we would go into Pomeroy and get married.
He talked about how we would go to Galbally hall. 'We wouldn't send out
any invitations. People could just come along,' he said. There were
plenty of musicians in Galbally and they would just come and play for
us," says Bernadette Donnelly.
"We were going to get engaged before he got picked up. He said that, if
he had been out, we would have been engaged or married so we got engaged
while he was in jail.
"I don't think he expected to die on hunger strike. But he was very
determined and I knew where he was coming from. I was behind him. I
wasn't angry. I knew why he was doing it."
After Hurson's death, his fiancee retreated into a period of deep grief
and rarely ventured out. In 1984, she eventually decided to move to the
United States to make a new life. Almost three years after Hurson's
death, Bernadette Donnelly removed her engagement ring for the first
time. She has remained in contact with the Hurson family in the
intervening years and is godmother to one of Martin Hurson's nieces.
Several weeks ago, she returned to Long Kesh to finally visit the place
where her young love breathed his last. This time around, the grey steel
gates swung open to reveal a deserted Long Kesh. Only bitter memories
and the grief of loved ones haunt the prison wing at Long Kesh today.
"If I had known Martin was going to die, I would not have left the jail
that night. I would have stayed through the night to see him. I was back
about six weeks ago and stood at the same gate I stood outside 25 years
ago. And it didn't matter if I got in that day or not. I saw the cell
that Martin was in, and I was in the hospital wing. I sat in room seven,
where he died. I stayed there on my own for a while and knelt down and
prayed. I think I felt him in the room. I felt his presence there.
"I never want to see it again. Some members of the Hurson family will be
down there on Thursday but I don't want to see it again."
The irony of being able to walk unhindered through the gates so firmly
closed to her 25 years ago is not lost on Bernadette Donnelly today.
"I got into the jail after 25 years but, when I needed to be there, when
Martin needed me, I could not be there. But I'm glad I was outside the
night before he died, the night they didn't let me in. If I had not been
there, I may have thought there was a chance I could have got in and
that would have been worse.
"But now that I have been there, I know how close I was to him. The
distance between the gate and the hospital is so short. When I was
there, I could not believe how close I was to him and yet, as they say,
so far away."
In the last 25 years, Bernadette Donnelly has built a new life for
herself but still carries the memories of 1981.
"He sent me 78 letters and I kept them -- the first to the last. It was
25 years ago but, to me, it seems like last week. I recall everything
from that time. I have found it very hard this year. It has brought back
a lot of memories and it has been really hard but I'm getting on with it
for him."
------------------------------
>>>>>> Analysis: Price and Corey prisoners of MI5-spun web of deceit
By Jim Gibney (for Irish News)
The fingerprints of MI5 are all over the detention of Marian Price and
Martin Corey, two former prisoners who served life sentences through the
1970s, eighties and nineties and are continuing to serve life sentences
following their forcible return to prison at the direction of the
British secretary of state Owen Paterson.
Ms Price and Mr Corey are at the centre of a power struggle for control
over the quality of justice and its dispensation between Britain's
intelligence agencies and those inside the north's justice and prison
system and the courts who seek to administer justice based on the facts
they see before them and not concocted stories woven in the minds of
those inhabiting the murky world of MI5. A carefully planned campaign of
intimidation orchestrated by MI5 is directed at David Ford, the north's
justice minister, the life sentence parole board inside the prison and
the north's judiciary.
The basis of this intimidation is vacuous testimony secretly sourced and
provided by members of the intelligence agencies alleging that Ms Price
and Mr Corey are a danger to the public because of their association
with dissident republican groupings.
On Monday MI5's interference in the justice process received a temporary
and very public setback when Mr Justice Treacy ordered Mr Corey's
release on the grounds that there had been a breach of the European
Convention on Human Rights and that his detention was unacceptable
because it relied on "closed material" and that this was unsafe.
Within minutes of Mr Justice Treacy's judgment directing Mr Corey's
release Paterson moved to block it, no doubt with the approval of MI5.
The speed with which Paterson moved against this judgment is an
indication of the determination of those in the British intelligence
system to fight to maintain their control.
At the time of writing Mr Corey is appealing the British secretary of
state's attempts to block his release.
And Paterson is facing additional pressure to release his grip over the
north's justice system by the solicitor representing Ms Price. With the
assistance of Ms Price's family and British-Irish Human Rights Watch,
her solicitor, Peter Corrigan, invited two United Nations doctors to
examine her.
The examination was carried out two weeks ago and the UN doctors' report
is due to be released shortly.
There has been concern for quite some time about Ms Price's mental and
physical health due to the prolonged period of isolation she has
experienced since her arrest in May 2011. And although the staff at
Belfast City Hospital, where she has been moved, are professional and
attentive to Ms Price, the isolation continues. She is still a prisoner
under armed guard.
There is a broad consensus among the medical team monitoring her health
that a home-based environment is essential to arrest the decline in her
physical and mental health. The minister for justice in the north's
executive, David Ford, has been lobbied to release Ms Price on
humanitarian grounds by Sinn Fein, the SDLP and her family and
supporters.
And while Mr Ford is not responsible for detaining Ms Price he has the
power to release her.
He exercised that power some time ago when he released Brendan Lillis
who was seriously ill in Maghaberry Prison.
Mr Ford was correctly praised for doing so. But it is not just the
treatment of Ms Price in prison which is a travesty of justice, it is
also her continued detention.
On two occasions Ms Price was granted bail and on both occasions Owen
Paterson personally intervened to block her release.
When she was hours away from being released he revoked the pardon she
was granted in 1980 and reimposed the life sentence she was given for
bombing the Old Bailey in London in 1973.
Her solicitor pursued Paterson to hand over a copy of the pardon which
triggered her release in 1981 because he believes the pardon will show
that her conviction and life sentence were overturned.
Conveniently for Paterson, the pardon search ran cold. He claimed it was
either lost or shredded.
Ms Price and Mr Corey are prisoners of MI5 and the web of deceit it has
woven around them.
They should be released immediately.
http://republican-news.org
Friday-Thursday, 6-12 July, 2012
1. PARADE CHAOS IN BELFAST
2. Legal turmoil as Martin Corey's bail release overturned
3. Problems mount for Boston College journalists
4. Violence follows 'Eleventh Night' bonfires
5. Attempt to recuit informer at Derry hospital
6. Minister shamed over private hospital deal
7. Feature: Remembering Martin Hurson
8. Analysis: Price and Corey prisoners of MI5-spun web of deceit
------------------------------
>>>>>> PARADE CHAOS IN BELFAST
The sound of gunfire echoed across north Belfast on Thursday night
following disturbances over an incendiary and bitterly opposed sectarian
parade.
The route through nationalist north Belfast had been forcibly cleared by
the PSNI, who beat and shoved residents away from the parade route
before the first march took place in the morning.
The parade through the Catholic Ardoyne area was one of hundreds held on
Thursday by the Protestant Orange Order to mark a 17th century
Protestant battle victory over Catholics.
Serious trouble broke out immediately after the 'return' parade passed
at around 4.30pm. One vehicle was burned out and some petrol bombs
thrown. An unknown number of plastic bullets were fired by the PSNI
police while water cannon was also used as clashes broke out.
Members of local residents group, the Greater Ardoyne Residents
Collective (GARC) appealed for calm, and rioting ebbed briefly as a
pre-planned protest by GARC then took place along the same road which
the Orangemen had just marched down.
However, loyalists (including some known paramilitaries) who had
gathered just meters away immediately rioted and violently attacked the
GARC protest.
As events deteriorated, fireworks, petrol bombs, stones, bricks and
bottles were hurled at police lines, while a second blazing car was
driven up to create a second barricade. At one point, armoured PSNI
vehicles were driven at speed through the streets in an apparent attempt
to clear the area. A blast bomb was thrown at the PSNI vehicles, while
one protestor was reported to have suffered a severe beating at the
hands of the police.
Serious disturbances continued in the Brompton Park area of north
Belfast late into the night. The PSNI confirmed reports of at least ten
gunshots as trouble intensifed, but said there were no injuries.
Trouble also broke out in other areas. Disturbances in Craigavon saw a
bus set ablaze. In the Bogside area of Derry, rioting continued into the
early hours of the morning with at least one car burned out, while
petrol bombs and stones were thrown at the PSNI. There were reports that
the home of the new Sinn Fein Mayor of Derry, Kevin Campbell, was among
those raided by the PSNI overnight.
Expectations of violence had increased during the week following
criticism by unionist leaders over the conditions placed on the Orange
parade in Ardoyne. In particular, they vehemently opposed a decision by
the Parades Commission, which adjudicates on the route of contentious
parades in the North, to have the 'return parade' completed by 4pm.
Orange lodges from across Belfast typically march to and from a large
central gathering known as 'the field' every 12th of July, the
anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne. Almost all of the trouble in
recent years has stemmed from the return evening journeys, when tension
is typically higher.
This year, the decision to bus the Orangemen into nationalist north
Belfast to march the return route exacerbated and increased the
provocation for residents.
Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams said he agreed with loyalist leader Jackie
McDonald that the Orange Order need to "look seriously" at the issue of
return parades.
Mr Adams said a decision not to return past Ardoyne would have
"transformed" the situation in North Belfast and would not have
prevented the Orangemen and loyalists "participating in and enjoying
their celebrations". He also called on the Orange Order to enter into
dialogue with local residents.
"There has been much good work done in North Belfast on the parading
issue in recent years. This work needs supported not undermined," he
said.
"However the Orange Order needs to step forward and make their
contribution to the peace process.
"Genuine dialogue is the only way to resolve this issue. Recently we saw
positive examples of that with the Orange leadership addressing the
Seanad in the Oireachtas for the first time and Martin McGuinness
meeting Queen Elizabeth II.
"Regrettably the Orange Order still refuse to meet the residents of the
Ardoyne area. Respect is a two-way street and if the Orange Order wants
respect from nationalists then they need to respect host communities and
treat them as equal citizens."
In a statement, GARC praised their members and supporters for conducting
themselves with dignity and respect in their protest.
"Today we witnessed yet again the Loyal Orders being granted permission
by the Parades Commission to march through our area, despite the wishes
of the overwhelming majority of the residents of this area stating their
opposition to such open expressions of sectarian bigotry taking place
within this community."
The group strongly condemned the PSNI's actions.
"They attacked residents returning to their homes in the morning, failed
to protect residents in the immediate aftermath of the Orange Order
return parade from attack by loyalists, tried to ensure a stand off
situation would develop into violence on two separate occasions.. and
totally failed to protect GARC marchers from loyalist paramilitary
attacks on the Crumlin Road.
"They had previously stated that they would 'robustly enforce' the
Parades Commission's 12th determinations, and ensure marchers and
protestors would be fully protected.
"What today has demonstrated is that while they robustly defended the
Orange Order marches, they were more than willing to see the people of
Ardoyne and their supporters attacked.
"This again reinforces the majority view within the Ardoyne area that
the PSNI is a sectarian militia there to protect those who support the
state, while permitting attacks on those who stand up for their rights."
------------------------------
>>>>>> Legal turmoil as judges overturn Corey's bail release
Irish political dissident Martin Corey remains in jail this weekend
after a Belfast High Court decision to release him was initially
blocked by the British government before being controversially
overturned by the Court of Appeal.
An appeal proper is to be heard on September 28 -- leaving Mr Corey
behind bars for more than two months.
Two years ago, Mr Corey, a 61-year-old interned without trial, was
locked up on the basis of unseen information allegedly in the hands of
the British government. This information is variously referred to in
court as 'secret', 'confidential', or 'closed'.
In a High Court hearing on Monday, Justice Treacy surprised observers
of the North's notorious judicial system when he challenged a recent
decision by the Parole Commissioners to continue Mr Corey's internment
without trial.
He ruled that imprisonment of Mr Corey on the basis of 'secret' evidence
amounted to a breach of his human rights -- and granted him
unconditional bail.
But as Mr Corey was due to be released to his family, the British Direct
Ruler Owen Paterson personally intervened to ensure he remained behind
bars. The decision stunned the political establishment, and forced the
mainstream media into censoring their own news reports.
The veteran republican's legal team was then forced to take legal
proceedings to appeal the refusal of the British authorities to
implement the decision of the Court.
Karen Quinlivan QC, for Mr Corey, said the legality of her client's
detention was in question.
"For too long this man has been detained in custody without access to a
proper lawful review," she told the Court of Appeal on Wednesday.
However, the court ruled that Justice Treacy did not have the power to
grant bail. It said it had received "extensive submissions" from the
authorities, without further explanation.
"In our view, having regard to our conclusion that there was a
connection between sentence and detention, the learned judge who granted
bail, understandably in light of matters open to him and not having the
same extensive submissions on authorities we have had, did not have the
power to do so in the particular circumstances of this case," said
Justice Declan Morgan.
Martin Corey wasn't present at the hearing but contacted a friend from
Maghaberry prison twenty minutes after it had ended. He was not
surprised at the decision. In his words "He expects little, and has
learned to accept less."
Although the court refused leave to appeal their determination to the
Supreme Court, Mr Corey's lawyers said they will still attempt to make a
direct petition.
REACTION
Sinn Fein Assembly member Raymond McCartney, vice-chair of the Stormont
justice committee, said: "Owen Paterson's negative interference in the
due process is an affront to the justice system in the north and will
damage confidence in that system.
"Justice Treacy granted Martin Corey unconditional bail and that is the
judgement that should stand."
The Chairperson of the Release Martin Corey Committee, Cait Trainor,
said that contrary to some reports, the British government had simply
overturned the initial court ruling without entering an appeal.
"They arbitrarily overturned the decision of the first court; it was
Martin Corey and his legal team who had to take legal proceedings to
appeal the refusal of the British Secretary of State to implement the
decision of the Court," she said.
"While Martin Corey sat in the reception of the prison with his
belongings waiting for his family, the British government underhandedly
intervened and blocked his release."
Mr Corey's niece, Elaine McConville, who was among those who travelled
to Maghaberry in the expectation of her uncle's release, said her family
had been "devasted" by the week's events.
She said her mother "couldn't even talk for crying".
"What they have done on him is a disgrace and what they have put his
brothers and sisters through past few days is unbearable," she said.
The Release Martin Corey Committee said it would be once more lobbying
all those concerned with human rights and justice to take action to
secure his release.
"We would ask all those who have worked so far to continue and urge
people to take a stand against tyranny and oppression.
"The Committee will lobby nationally and internationally. We have to
expose the double standards of the British Government to human rights;
while they complain and state they oppose human rights abuses in various
countries, they in fact themselves are guilty of human rights abuses
against people who dissent from British rule in Ireland.
"In the year the British are hosting the Olympics, they show a face to
the world of righteousness and morality, the world must now see the
truth: British rule in Ireland can only result in the oppression of the
Irish people and those with independent thought.
"It must be remembered that Martin Corey is interned with no charge, no
trial but on secret allegations by unknown people that the British
Government refuse to present."
Commenting on the developments, eirigi Runai Ginearalta Breandan Mac
Cionnaith said: "What has been witnessed over the past three days is
nothing short of an unprecedented farce.
"It is a clear case of the British government literally arranging the
bench in order to get a decision that it is happy with.
"Any sense of fairness, lack of prejudice or integrity which one is
supposed to associate with any system of justice has been totally absent
in the Martin Corey case.
"While the responsibility for Martin Corey's continued internment lies
directly with the British government, the Six County judicial system is
not without blame either. That system is the same judicial system that
upholds injustice through its operation of non-jury Diplock courts.
"That judiciary has this week proven itself to be a willing and integral
tool in the implementation of British government policy."
Mr Mac Cionnaith blamed Sinn Fein and the SDLP who he said had "endorsed
and supported cosmetic changes to the justice system" and provided "a
smokescreen cover for such blatant injustice".
"Those parties cannot be allowed to merely dismiss Martin Corey's
continued internment as being the result of 'British interference in the
due process'.
"The judicial system, which has now play its part in Martin Corey's
continued internment, is part of the structures which those parties
endorsed and which they heralded as 'a new beginning'.
"There can be no escape from that fact, however unpalatable that may be
for some to admit."
------------------------------
>>>>>> Problems mount for Boston College journalists
Efforts to prevent a peace process 'research project' being used to
prosecute and jail senior republicans suffered a setback this week
following a court ruling in Boston.
Interviews with former republican prisoners, which form part of the
Boston College Belfast Project carried out between 2001 and 2006, have
been the focus of a prolonged legal battle.
Under a court ruling last weekend, an interview with Dolours Price,
sister of interned political dissident Marian Price, must be handed over
to the PSNI next month.
It has been alleged that the interview implicates Sinn Fein President
Gerry Adams in IRA actions.The interviews were carried out by former
political prisoner Anthony McIntyre and New York-based journalist Ed
Moloney.
A number of other former IRA members gave interviews on condition they
would not be made public until after their deaths.
Mr McIntyre and Mr Moloney have argued the release of the tapes could
damage the peace process and put lives at risk.
Last week, legal representatives for Mr McIntyre, who lives in County
Louth, said they will seek leave to apply for a judicial review in
Belfast in a bid to stop the PSNI pursuing the interviews -- on the
basis that such a move would put their client's life in danger.
In a separate legal battle, Boston College is attempting to block PSNI
access to seven other interviews carried out with former IRA members as
part of the project.
Mr Moloney said the latest court move has put his life and the life of
Mr McIntyre in danger.
"As Eamonn [his solicitor] put it, the IRA could well target Mr McIntyre
for having conducted these interviews and subject him and his family to
violent reprisals. This action by the PSNI has put his life in danger,"
he said.
------------------------------
>>>>>> Violence follows 'Eleventh Night' bonfires
The annual period of sectarian strife surrounding the July 12th marches
saw an increased number of loyalist 'Eleventh Night' bonfires.
The giant bonfires are lit on the eve of the 'Twelfth', and were
traditionally used to intimidate nationalists.
Loyalists traditionally place Irish tricolours or other nationalist
images on the bonfires as a declaration of intent, and celebrate as the
flags and icons are consumed by flames.
In New Mossley in Belfast, the bonfire -- estimated to be the largest in
the North this year -- stood at more than 100ft tall. Other massive
structures were erected in areas such as Mount Vernon in north Belfast,
the Cregagh estate in the east of the city and on the Shankill estate in
west Belfast, where the bonfire rose to around 90ft and is expected to
burn for days.
In most cases tyres -- which give off toxic fumes when alight -- were
placed on the bonfires as efforts to organise more environmental
'beacons' were abandoned.
The placing of a white coffin on top of a bonfire in Newtownabbey,
County Antrim was seen as an unusual threat, while the bonfire in east
Belfast carried a giant poster with the traditional message K.A.T.,
meaning Kill All Taigs [Catholics].
A number of incidents took place in the hours following the setting of
the fires, as intoxicated loyalists sought Catholics to attack.
A house in the Drumlough Gardens area of Lisburn was set ablaze shortly
after midnight on Thursday morning when a petrol bomb was thrown at the
house. There was also a major overnight blaze in south Belfast which
caused a house in the Holylands to partially collapse.
On Saturday, two men, aged 19 and 29, were attacked in the unionist
Westland Road area at around 5.30am. The two men received slash wounds
in an incident also believed to be connected to sectarian tensions.
LURGAN HOAX
In a separate incident, there was trouble in Lurgan on Wednesday after a
van was driven up to the main PSNI base in the town. It followed news
that interned local man Martin Corey would continue to remain in jail,
despite receiving unconditional bail.
The van was hijacked in the Lurgantarry area of the County Armagh town
at around 5.40pm on Wednesday before the driver was told to proceed to
the PSNI police station in the town.
A series of controlled explosions were carried out by the British Army
on te abandoned van before it was declared a hoax.
------------------------------
>>>>>> Attempt to recuit informer at Derry hospital
The 32 County Sovereignty Movement has condemned what it said was a
recruitment attempt by British MI5 agents which took place at the breast
cancer unit at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry.
The targeted individual had been sitting with his three-year- old son as
his wife was receiving treatment for breast cancer, when he was
approached by a woman who engaged in small-talk.
The woman asked for directions to the reception -- which was directly in
front of her. But the man really grew suspicious when another man who
he recognised from a previous approach stepped out from behind her.
The MI5 man said he wanted "a chat". The British agent stated that they
were there to "save lives" so to talk to them.
The man told them to get away from him "loudly" and they retreated from
the scene. But the female agent then returned and dropped a contact
card.
On exiting the hospital, a Mitsubishi jeep circled the young family in a
threatening manner.
"This woman has been suffering from a life threatening illness and
receiving treatment in a supposed place of sanctuary," according to a
statement by the 32 County Sovereignty Movement.
"She has been a victim of RUC/PSNI harassment all the while through her
treatment for breast cancer, suffering baiting and house raids together
with the run of the mill harassment that Republicans and their families
suffer on a daily basis.
"The fact that approaches were made as she was being treated shows that
there are no lengths the British fascists will not stoop to in their
harassment of Republicans."
They urged people to remain vigilant and report any approaches in person
or by email.
------------------------------
>>>>>> Minister shamed over private hospital deal
Sinn Fein has strongly challenged the leadership of the Labour Party
this week after the 26-County Minister for Health James Reilly was
publicly named in Stubbs Gazette over a 1.9 million euro bad debt.
Dr Reilly was forced to fly in from Cyprus to explain several aspects of
his involvement in a property in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary,
where a nursing home is located. His dealings resulted in him not only
being named in the Stubbs' list of debt defaulters, but also accused
over an apparent conflict of interest.
The Minister's involvement in the Green Hills nursing home, along with
several others, including former Fine Gael Councillor Anne Devitt, took
advantage of a lucrative tax break.
Earlier this year the High Court ordered Dr Reilly and four others to
buy the nursing home for 1.9 million euro, but the debt was never paid.
In his statement to the Dublin parliament, Dr O'Reilly said he was now
attempting to sell off his embarrassing investment. But Sinn Fein's
Jonathan O'Brien dismissed the Minister's statement as "ten minutes of
legal bluster".
Although Dr Reilly's name had appeared in Stubbs Gazette because he had
breached a High Court order, he had given no indication as to when he
would comply with it, Mr O'Brien said.
The Minister's declaration of interests was untrue, he added.
"[The Minister] is presiding over hundreds of bed closures in the public
nursing sector while being an acknowledged stakeholder in a private
residential care home," said O'Brien.
While there was an occasional mutter from their coalition partners in
Fine Gael, the Labour backbenchers, usually at the ready to heckle Sinn
Fein, remained silent.
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said the inclusion of Dr Reilly's name in
Stubbs Gazette was "unprecedented" for a government Minister.
He pointed out that between January and May of this year, 296 public
residential care beds had been closed.
"It is a fact that the Minister for Health is taking decisions which
benefit private health care.
"If the Minister has a personal investment in private health care
provision the question must be asked is he a suitable person to be
Health Minister?"
------------------------------
>>>>>> Feature: Remembering Martin Hurson
------------------------------
Martin Hurson became the sixth republican to die on hunger strike on
this day in 1981. In this archive article by Connla Young for Daily
Ireland, his fiancee recalls the place where the couple grew up.
------------------------------
To a stranger travelling through east Tyrone, the black flags and
life-size posters hanging from telephone posts may arouse a mild
curiosity.
To those closer to home, the images of Martin Hurson's smiling face mask
a hurt that has cloaked this close-knit community for a quarter of a
century.
The area's landscape has changed little since Hurson died on hunger
strike on July 13, 1981.
A few new houses dot the rolling hills around Galbally where the Hurson
family scratched a living from their modest farm. However, a new
generation of young people has grown up in the district, relatively
untouched by the 30-year conflict that raged during their parents'
youth.
People in their 20s and younger know Martin Hurson's name but, for them,
the events of the hunger strike are from a different time. Even so,
tucked away in the belly of the rugged Tyrone countryside, a memorial to
the hunger strikers tells of the place that Hurson and his nine comrades
will always hold in the hearts of those who knew them.
At the time of his death, Hurson was engaged to Bernadette Donnelly from
the nearby village of Pomeroy. The pair met at the wedding of Hurson's
cousin Sean Kelly and Bernadette Donnelly's sister Mary Rose Donnelly in
1975. Within weeks, they were inseparable.
Now, 25 years later, Bernadette Donnelly has returned to the place where
she and Martin Hurson grew up. She has brought with her a vast
collection of personal letters sent by Hurson while he was on the
blanket protest in Long Kesh. Almost 80 letters and a number of intimate
poems reveal the depth of the couple's relationship after Hurson was
sentenced to 20 years in November 1977. He was arrested 12 months
earlier, along with other young people from the Galbally area.
The wounds of the 1981 hunger strike remain raw for Bernadette Donnelly,
while the anniversary of his death provides more cause for reflection.
"For the last few weeks, I have been looking at a lot of stuff I have.
"He wrote me a lot of letters and seven or eight love poems. I met his
sisters and brothers this week and showed them what he had written. It
was the first time they had seen them. It was really tough for them. We
were crying and laughing," she says.
The grief Bernadette Donnelly feels over her fiance's passing was
exacerbated by his quick demise. After 46 days on hunger strike, Hurson
died more quickly than his comrades.
"He died so quickly. It was unexpected so I didn't get to say goodbye.
The last time I saw him was about seven or eight days before he went but
I really didn't think he was going to die.
"I used to write to him every week. My letters were about three pages
long so he asked me to cut them down to a page. On my last visit with
him, he was looking side on at me, which made me think he had double
vision.
"The difference with Martin and the other men was how quickly he went.
Other families got five or six days with their loved ones before they
died. We didn't get that," she says.
Bernadette Donnelly was refused permission to visit her fiance as he
slipped into the coma of his final hours. The grey steel gates of Long
Kesh were slammed in her face by cold-hearted prison officials.
"Brendan Hurson and me were at a H-block march in Armagh when Malachy
McCreesh, brother of Raymond, came over and said that Martin had taken
bad. A Galbally man, John Campbell, drove Martin's brother Brendan,
Bernadette McAliskey and myself straight to Long Kesh. Neither Brendan
nor me had ID and they were not going to allow Brendan in.
"His sister and father were already there with him but found it hard to
watch him. They told Brendan that, if his father identified him, they
would let him in but not me. I was engaged to get married to him but
they wouldn't let me in.
"Bernadette McAliskey pleaded with them to let me in but they wouldn't
because they said I wasn't family. I just put my arm on Bernadette's arm
and said to her: 'They shot you six months ago. Just leave it and I'll
get in tomorrow morning.' They even threatened not to let Martin's
brother Francie in when he arrived," she says.
She returned to the Hurson home in Tyrone and arranged to travel back to
Long Kesh with them the following morning.
"I was at my sister's house getting ready to go and see Martin when I
put on the seven o'clock news," she recalls.
"They just announced that he was dead. I thought I was going to see him
then I found out he had died at 4.30am. His sister was driving down the
road when she heard it on the news as well. That's how we heard it."
Hurson's death brought a heartbreaking end to any hope of a shared life
for the young couple.
"We had intended to get engaged the Christmas after he was arrested but
we had to put that off. At the start, he didn't take many visits but, as
time went on into 1978, he began to take more. He used to talk about
getting out and spoke of how we would go into Pomeroy and get married.
He talked about how we would go to Galbally hall. 'We wouldn't send out
any invitations. People could just come along,' he said. There were
plenty of musicians in Galbally and they would just come and play for
us," says Bernadette Donnelly.
"We were going to get engaged before he got picked up. He said that, if
he had been out, we would have been engaged or married so we got engaged
while he was in jail.
"I don't think he expected to die on hunger strike. But he was very
determined and I knew where he was coming from. I was behind him. I
wasn't angry. I knew why he was doing it."
After Hurson's death, his fiancee retreated into a period of deep grief
and rarely ventured out. In 1984, she eventually decided to move to the
United States to make a new life. Almost three years after Hurson's
death, Bernadette Donnelly removed her engagement ring for the first
time. She has remained in contact with the Hurson family in the
intervening years and is godmother to one of Martin Hurson's nieces.
Several weeks ago, she returned to Long Kesh to finally visit the place
where her young love breathed his last. This time around, the grey steel
gates swung open to reveal a deserted Long Kesh. Only bitter memories
and the grief of loved ones haunt the prison wing at Long Kesh today.
"If I had known Martin was going to die, I would not have left the jail
that night. I would have stayed through the night to see him. I was back
about six weeks ago and stood at the same gate I stood outside 25 years
ago. And it didn't matter if I got in that day or not. I saw the cell
that Martin was in, and I was in the hospital wing. I sat in room seven,
where he died. I stayed there on my own for a while and knelt down and
prayed. I think I felt him in the room. I felt his presence there.
"I never want to see it again. Some members of the Hurson family will be
down there on Thursday but I don't want to see it again."
The irony of being able to walk unhindered through the gates so firmly
closed to her 25 years ago is not lost on Bernadette Donnelly today.
"I got into the jail after 25 years but, when I needed to be there, when
Martin needed me, I could not be there. But I'm glad I was outside the
night before he died, the night they didn't let me in. If I had not been
there, I may have thought there was a chance I could have got in and
that would have been worse.
"But now that I have been there, I know how close I was to him. The
distance between the gate and the hospital is so short. When I was
there, I could not believe how close I was to him and yet, as they say,
so far away."
In the last 25 years, Bernadette Donnelly has built a new life for
herself but still carries the memories of 1981.
"He sent me 78 letters and I kept them -- the first to the last. It was
25 years ago but, to me, it seems like last week. I recall everything
from that time. I have found it very hard this year. It has brought back
a lot of memories and it has been really hard but I'm getting on with it
for him."
------------------------------
>>>>>> Analysis: Price and Corey prisoners of MI5-spun web of deceit
By Jim Gibney (for Irish News)
The fingerprints of MI5 are all over the detention of Marian Price and
Martin Corey, two former prisoners who served life sentences through the
1970s, eighties and nineties and are continuing to serve life sentences
following their forcible return to prison at the direction of the
British secretary of state Owen Paterson.
Ms Price and Mr Corey are at the centre of a power struggle for control
over the quality of justice and its dispensation between Britain's
intelligence agencies and those inside the north's justice and prison
system and the courts who seek to administer justice based on the facts
they see before them and not concocted stories woven in the minds of
those inhabiting the murky world of MI5. A carefully planned campaign of
intimidation orchestrated by MI5 is directed at David Ford, the north's
justice minister, the life sentence parole board inside the prison and
the north's judiciary.
The basis of this intimidation is vacuous testimony secretly sourced and
provided by members of the intelligence agencies alleging that Ms Price
and Mr Corey are a danger to the public because of their association
with dissident republican groupings.
On Monday MI5's interference in the justice process received a temporary
and very public setback when Mr Justice Treacy ordered Mr Corey's
release on the grounds that there had been a breach of the European
Convention on Human Rights and that his detention was unacceptable
because it relied on "closed material" and that this was unsafe.
Within minutes of Mr Justice Treacy's judgment directing Mr Corey's
release Paterson moved to block it, no doubt with the approval of MI5.
The speed with which Paterson moved against this judgment is an
indication of the determination of those in the British intelligence
system to fight to maintain their control.
At the time of writing Mr Corey is appealing the British secretary of
state's attempts to block his release.
And Paterson is facing additional pressure to release his grip over the
north's justice system by the solicitor representing Ms Price. With the
assistance of Ms Price's family and British-Irish Human Rights Watch,
her solicitor, Peter Corrigan, invited two United Nations doctors to
examine her.
The examination was carried out two weeks ago and the UN doctors' report
is due to be released shortly.
There has been concern for quite some time about Ms Price's mental and
physical health due to the prolonged period of isolation she has
experienced since her arrest in May 2011. And although the staff at
Belfast City Hospital, where she has been moved, are professional and
attentive to Ms Price, the isolation continues. She is still a prisoner
under armed guard.
There is a broad consensus among the medical team monitoring her health
that a home-based environment is essential to arrest the decline in her
physical and mental health. The minister for justice in the north's
executive, David Ford, has been lobbied to release Ms Price on
humanitarian grounds by Sinn Fein, the SDLP and her family and
supporters.
And while Mr Ford is not responsible for detaining Ms Price he has the
power to release her.
He exercised that power some time ago when he released Brendan Lillis
who was seriously ill in Maghaberry Prison.
Mr Ford was correctly praised for doing so. But it is not just the
treatment of Ms Price in prison which is a travesty of justice, it is
also her continued detention.
On two occasions Ms Price was granted bail and on both occasions Owen
Paterson personally intervened to block her release.
When she was hours away from being released he revoked the pardon she
was granted in 1980 and reimposed the life sentence she was given for
bombing the Old Bailey in London in 1973.
Her solicitor pursued Paterson to hand over a copy of the pardon which
triggered her release in 1981 because he believes the pardon will show
that her conviction and life sentence were overturned.
Conveniently for Paterson, the pardon search ran cold. He claimed it was
either lost or shredded.
Ms Price and Mr Corey are prisoners of MI5 and the web of deceit it has
woven around them.
They should be released immediately.
