In the Name of Our Sister

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Friday January 18, 2013 03:48

by BrianClarke - AllVoices

Politcal Internment

Miscarriage of Justice victim Gerry Conlon depicted in the film with this article, has spoken out in support of Marian Price. Marian has been politically interned without trial since May 2011, after the then Viceroyal for British Occupied Ireland, Owen Paterson, revoked a non existing prison release licence, after a Royal pardon was either mislaid or shredded by the British.

Time Magazine Price Sisters

There is considerable British censorship on this matter currently, so you are asked to re-share, pass it on via Facebook, retweet on twitter or share to your friends for a peaceful resolution of massive injustice in Ireland currently, despite a peace process that the British Tory Government is dismantling systematically, simply because there is no money in peace.

Judge Barney McElholm has said that "private, appropriate, secure and suitable accommodation" could be made available by hospital authorities, for a secret trial by her death bed, where Marian Price is essentially dying, after previous psychological torture of over one year of solitary confinement and previous force feeding for approximately six months.

Marian Price, who held up a piece of paper on a windy day, from which an IRA volunteer read, at a traditional Easter Commemoration ceremony, has been deteriorating mentally and physically in health, at an alarming rate since her political internment..Her lawyer Peter Corrigan told Mr McElholm, that it would be "wrong to hold a preliminary inquiry hearing in a pseudo court situation in hospital" and he said the charge which his client denied should be dropped.

He said, "The deterioration in her physical and mental health has been exacerbated by the prosecution of the charge against her." A prosecution lawyer claimed that if "all the appropriate measures" were in place, there was no reason why the trial could not proceed. The judge adjourned a decision but promised he would give it "as soon as possible". The Judge said, "I want the doctors to be advised about the nuts, bolts and practicalities of what such a hearing would be. I want doctors to understand she could not give evidence nor could she be cross-examined. He further said, "I want the doctors to be advised of the exact type of hearing and for them to come to a conclusion about her ability to take part from a medical viewpoint."

Miscarriage of justice victim Gerry Conlon, a member of the Guildford Four, who spent 14 years in jail after being falsely convicted of a bombing in England was at the court for the hearing. He said keeping her interned was an abuse of process. He said: "To think that a process of law is being usurped by politicians in order to hold a woman, without her lawyers being able to see the accusations against her, is an abuse of justice, it is a human rights issue.

"If there is evidence to say someone has committed a crime it should be placed before the court, their lawyer should have access to it and the accusations should be made open and public. Justice has to be fair, open and transparent and that it is why I am here. It is not fair, it is not open and it is certainly not transparent."

Marian Price is just one of several Irish people currently politically interned in British Occupied Ireland during which time lawyers have not been allowed to see any of Britain's ‘alleged’ evidence.

• She has been kept in solitary confinement in a ‘male’ high security prison
• She is effectively interned without a trial, sentence, or release date.
• She has not been given any timescale for any investigation.
• She has not been allowed to see the evidence that the state claims to have
• Her release has been ordered on two occasions by judges. However, on both occasions the British Vice royal has overruled those decisions.
• The Vice royal claims they ‘revoked Marian’s license, ’despite Marian never being released on license. She was given a Royal Pardon.
• Marian’s Royal Pardon has ‘gone missing’ from the home office (the only time in history). The British Vice royal has taken the view that unless a paper copy can be located – it must be assumed that she does not have one. It is generally agreed that MI5 shredded her majesty's pardon.
• Despite no ‘license’ existing for her release from prison in 1980, it is the non-existent licence that is being used to keep her in prison.
• She can only be released by Theresa Villiers the current Vice royal responsible for Marian's internment.

Recently the charges against Marian were thrown out of court because of a lack of evidence. Now the very same charges have been re-instated against Marian again before the same Judge.In secret courts, being introduced, MI5 the British secret services are pushing for secret trials, with secret evidence by secret witnesses, that the defendant's appointed lawyer is not allowed to know, see or refute. The length of sentence is also kept secret, under penalty of a long jail sentence by Britain's Official Secret's Act. This trial of Marian Price is believed to have already happened in secret by the UK SS, with the public hearings and showtrial being simply a public rubber stamp, for the injustice against Marian Price in of British Occupied Ireland.

Gareth Pierce, a lawyer who successfully campaigned for the release of the Guilford 4 after 10 years of campaigning has commented, that the bureaucrat "is giving himself/herself the powers of a dictator". Detentions without trial and house arrest, have often been used by brutal dictatorships, who learned their techniques from their former British colonialist masters.This internment in British Occupied Ireland is a thin end of a wedge. At some stage, anti-irish measures, will also be extended to Britain itself, to includes political activists, trade unionists, etc.

There has been considerable opposition to internment, from within the British legal profession, with Ian MacDonald QC, who was-appointed to a panel of lawyers, to represent suspects in secret courts, resigning, saying; "My role has been altered to provide a false legitimacy to indefinite detention, without knowledge of the accusations being made and without any kind of criminal charge or trial. Such a law is an odious blot on our legal landscape and for reasons of conscience I feel that I must resign".

If the Guildford Four, Birmingham Six were wrongfully convicted in open court, what chance has an innocent victim in secret trials, with secret evidence by secret witnesses, that the defendant's appointed lawyer is not allowed to know, see or refute in British Occupied Ireland.