50 Irish political prisoners/POWs (restarted)

[PRC-UTE]

50 republicans still in prison
The Irish News 17/11/08

History was made in 1998 when the gates of the Maze prison opened and
republican and loyalist inmates were freed under the terms of the Good
Friday Agreement.

But 10 years on from their early release – agreed as part of efforts to
consign the Troubles to history – there are around 50 republican prisoners
in jails north and south of the border.

Maghaberry jail has 31 inmates housed in its republican ‘separated’ unit.

The only one to have had his early release licence revoked is John Brady
from Strabane.

Released from the Maze in 1998 after serving seven years for the murder of
RUC reservist David Black in 1989, he was arrested in 2004 and charged
with allegedly attempting to kill a part-time RIR soldier two years
earlier.

The charge was later dropped by the Public Prosecution Service, which had
been due to rely on controversial ‘low copy number’ DNA evidence but he
remains in jail for the previous life sentence.

The majority of republican prisoners in Maghaberry are affiliated with
Continuity IRA, with a handful of Real IRA prisoners also held on the
wing.

Also in Maghaberry are two of the four men convicted of the Provisional
IRA kidnapping of veteran republican Bobby Tohill in 2004.

Tommy Tolan and Gerard McCrory, both from west Belfast, handed themselves
in to police in January 2007 after a period of being unlawfully at large.

In Portlaoise prison in Co Laois, the vast majority of republican inmates
are affiliated to the Real IRA.

The most high-profile of these is Michael McKevitt, serving a 20-year jail
term for directing terrorism. One of the founding members of the Real IRA,
the veteran republican has since turned his back on his former associates.

There are eight alleged INLA prisoners in Portlaoise, the majority on
remand awaiting trial for charges ranging from membership of the
organisation to possession of weapons.

Armagh man Declan Duffy is among them, having been arrested earlier this
year and charged with membership.

West Belfast man Gerard Mackin has also been in Portlaoise and is now on
trial in Dublin’s Special Criminal Court charged with the murder of Eddie
Burns in the city in March last year.

Two other republican prisoners are being held in jails outside of Ireland.

Dundalk man Michael Campbell (36) is being detained in Lithuania on
suspicion of buying firearms and explosives for the Real IRA.

The last republican prisoner in England, Noel Maguire, was convicted along
with four other men for a Real IRA bombing campaign and is serving 22
years in a prison in Cambridgeshire.

Earlier this month the Republic’s justice minister Dermot Ahern turned
down a request by Maguire for transfer to Portlaoise, saying he had failed
to prove he has family links in the jurisdiction.

[Jorge Miguel]

If there was no British involvement in Ireland's national affairs, these people would be free men with their families. Their motivation is entirely political and they should be supported.

[PRC-UTE]

many have been convicted on the basis of text messages using republican slogans, or solely on the word of informers or garda (police) superintendents. it's used to break political parties. the IRSP has had its Ard-Comhairle (central committee) stopped and harrassed during a meeting wtih documents taken. there've recently been raids of party members homes for drugs yet all that was turned up were a few packs of cigarettes. several leadng party members were arrested in cork and accused of directing a tiger kidnapping plot; it was claimed they were well armed. yet no charges relating to weapons or the kidnappling plot were ever raised, only the charge of membership in a proscribed organisation.

although I criticise the attempts of the CIRA and RIRA to carry out armed struggle in a situation where this is no support for this and it will likely backfire if it gets going (attempts have been so laughable as to invite serious people to speculate that it's state agents behind it), I support them as activists who are imprisoned for politically motivated "crimes".

[Seven Stars]

many have been convicted on the basis of text messages using republican slogans, or solely on the word of informers or garda (police) superintendents. it's used to break political parties. the IRSP has had its Ard-Comhairle (central committee) stopped and harrassed during a meeting wtih documents taken. there've recently been raids of party members homes for drugs yet all that was turned up were a few packs of cigarettes. several leadng party members were arrested in cork and accused of directing a tiger kidnapping plot; it was claimed they were well armed. yet no charges relating to weapons or the kidnappling plot were ever raised, only the charge of membership in a proscribed organisation.

although I criticise the attempts of the CIRA and RIRA to carry out armed struggle in a situation where this is no support for this and it will likely backfire if it gets going (attempts have been so laughable as to invite serious people to speculate that it's state agents behind it), I support them as activists who are imprisoned for politically motivated "crimes".

A couple of things need correcting comrade. NO homes were raided for drugs. The media claimed that, but the search warrant only listed counterfeit cigarettes. There no claims that the activities of the CIRA or the so-called "Real" IRA are the doings of the state. That was the "Irish Republican Liberation Army." They were set up by MI5, and were never a real organization.

[PRC-UTE]

A couple of things need correcting comrade. NO homes were raided for drugs. The media claimed that, but the search warrant only listed counterfeit cigarettes.

You're right about that, thanks.



There no claims that the activities of the CIRA or the so-called "Real" IRA are the doings of the state. That was the "Irish Republican Liberation Army." They were set up by MI5, and were never a real organization.

there's certainly a lot of infiltration in the CIRA and RIRA, not that the state created them but I think agents within them have undermined their campaign for sure. this is what I was making reference to. I understand that this is a different thing to the bogus "IRLA" which was never real.