First of all, I would like to thank everyone sincerely, who worked so hard for the release of Marian Price and Martin Corey both in Ireland and overseas. I am sure you're commitment did make a big difference and we are all happy about the outcome. Well done!
The case of the Craigavon 2, has been dragging on now over several years and Gerry Conlon of the Guildford 4, who is now deceased, was a passionate supporter of their cause. I knew Gerry sufficiently well enough, to know, that these two young men were genuinely innocent, before Gerry would get involved.
However, I was so weary over my lifetime campaigning, in both Ireland and England for innocent Irish political prisoners, that I just needed a break and decided to leave it to a younger generation, to take up their cause. Indeed many like me, are tired and would like to walk away, but the relentless injustices, just seem to never cease with the British in Ireland.
Like the Marian and Martin campaigns and I don't wish to be critical, I am frankly a little surprised by the photography used. I am frankly angry at all those careerist politicians, who rose to power on the backs of the hardship of Ireland's so many political prisoners and they appear to have done so very little, for the cause of all those interned without a proper trial, strip searched and of course, all those innocents who are used as political and policing scapegoats, for an inherently, rotten system.
Innocent young people, in every generation, since the foundation of both scum states in Ireland, have been incarcerated over the last Century and it still goes on into the 21st century. People who would otherwise, be just happy to get on with their everyday lives, are dragged back into it, time after time, year after, generation after generation. What a terrible waste of energy, of the best people, this island has to offer. We are too small as an island to make a difference on our own, in matters like this peacefully, while some of our best, over many generations, have emigrated. We need all of their help and their succeeding generations, as the British Government, seem hell bent, on creating the conditions of injustice, division and keeping them alive, that generates so much anger and bitterness. We need your help to deal with it, in a proactive, rather than reactionary way. Below is an explanation of the matter. Again thank you all so much for your help in the past and please help make this matter as international as possible,because there is massive political censorship, in both Ireland and Britain on these matters and the corporate media carries considerable disinformation on Ireland.
beir bua! brion
beir bua! brion
Our Duty To Support The Craigavon Two #JFTC2
By JULIANICHIM Twitter Campaign #JFTC2
is wrong with the British occupation in the north of Ireland. While the leadership of SF is currently meeting with
the commander in chief of British death squads and having tea and biscuits, the Craigavon Two are sitting in a cell in
Maghaberry deprived of all basics rights, the most recent victims of the British Injustice system.
Their case and conviction, based on secret evidence, Diplock Courts,witness tampering and intimidation demonstrates that not much has changed since the signing of the GFA and the injustice of their incarceration is not just a crime against
them but rather an attack on justice and human rights of ALL people in the occupied six counties.
Despite the fact that their appeal has discredited any and all accusations against them, they are still sitting in
jail almost one year after this “awaiting a decision” in other words being continuously punished for their real crime, their politics. Like Price, Corey and many others the British state is trying to break them and break the movement by targeting all who are political but in this they will fail!!!
In J.P. Woottons own words (in a surprise letter that I received) he states(all spelling mistakes are mine):
“While I am confident…we will be back home again to our families and communities, it must be recognize that
this type of injustice is merely a symptom of a cruel and unjust system. Unless this is abolished it will continue
to affect more people. Take for example Gerry Conlon, Who has supported us in our quest for justice, he himself faced a similar outrage many years ago and here it is, happening again. Unless we treat the disease, the symptoms
will always reappear……If one good thing could come from all this I hope is that the real nature of the system
we live under is clearly exposed.”
It is clear to all those who are watching what is occurring under the occupation that the nature of the occupation has not changed, and any who speak out will be brutalised and criminalized and as such all who believe in the ideas of justice and human rights have an obligation to speak out and oppose this miscarriage of justice as well as to hold
the British accountable. I ask people to write to the Craigavon Two as well as contact whatever representative of British Injustice is in your area to demand their freedom now and demand and end to the illegal kidnapping of Irish Republicans by the British state.
For more info on their case please check out
http://www.justiceforthecraigavontwo.com
Those in KKKanada please contact the British Consulate 416 593 1290
Write to the Craigavon Two
Brendan McConville
John Paul Wootton
Maghaberry Prison
Upper Ballinderry Road
Lisburn, Co.Antrim
North of Ireland
Bt28 2Pt
BACKGROUND
On the 9th March 2009 Police Constable Stephen Carroll was shot and killed while responding to an emergency 999 call in the Craigavon area. The following day police arrived at the home of Brendan McConville, a local republican, and placed him under arrest. Later that morning, John Paul Wootton, another republican from the area, was arrested in the Craigavon area and had his vehicle seized.
Both men were taken to Antrim for interrogation where they, along with a number of other individuals, were detained while the vehicle owned by John Paul Wootton was taken to Maydown Barracks in Derry for examination. Some days later police recovered the weapon used in the shooting from the rear garden of a house in the Pinebank housing estate in Craigavon. Around the same time a brown jacket with traces of DNA from Brendan McConville amongst others, and a residue which was claimed might have come from a firearm, was taken from the boot of the vehicle owned by John Paul Wootton.
Based on this finding, and under intense pressure to get results, police focused their attentions on these two men and set about constructing a case against them. The reason the police were under so much pressure was that Constable Carroll was the first police officer to be killed since the Good Friday Agreement. Adding to the pressure was the fact that this shooting took place within days of an attack on Masssereen Barracks where two British soldiers were killed.
It later transpired that the car owned by John Paul Wootton had been subject to covert surveillance at the time of the attack by means of a tracking device which had been hidden either in or on the vehicle by the British Army. This device provided data on the movement of the vehicle around the time of the shooting. It would later come to light that data from this device was wiped while the device was still in the possession of the Army. No one could explain why this had happened. The remainder of the data was used to construct a circumstantial yet arguably weak case against the two men.
Eleven months after the shooting a local man contacted the police in the middle of the night on Valentines night and, under the influence of alcohol, claimed to have seen Brendan McConville close to the area from which the shooting occurred on the night of the shooting. It should be borne in mind that in the eleven months from the shooting to this man’s statement, Brendan McConville and John Paul Wootton had been charged with the shooting and their identities were widely broadcast throughout the media.
This man, known only to the court as Witness M, lied continuously under oath while giving evidence. He was adamant that he had no problems with his eyesight and when asked if he had been prescribed glasses he claimed that he did occasionally wear glasses, but only as a fashion item. It was only on day two of his testimony, when confronted with evidence acquired by Brendan McConville’s legal team from an optician in Lurgan where he had previously underwent an eyesight examination, that he conceded that he had been prescribed glasses but this time claimed that they were just for reading. Evidence later given in court would show that in fact Witness M suffered from both astigmatism and short sightedness and could only identify facial features up to half the distance at which he claimed to identify Brendan McConville. At the conclusion of the case the single judge, relying heavily on circumstance and inference, found both men guilty and sentenced them to life in prison. Both men continue to maintain their innocence and with an appeal fast approaching they ask that the facts be made public so that their quest for justice does not develop into another long running saga like that of the Guilford four or the Birmingham six.
News, INNOCENCE, CRY INNOCENCE, #JFTC2, Craigavon Two, Craigavon 2, Ireland, Gerry Conlon, Brendan McConville, John Paul Wooton, Wootton, #BoycottBritish
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