Demand the release of Tony Taylor

Posted by Jim on November 15, 2016

By Cait Trainor

Tony Taylor, a Derry Republican has now been interned for 7 months.

Tony is a normal family man with a wife, children and responsibilities
just like everyone else, he has been interned at the behest of the
British Secretary of State in Ireland and has no charge against him, he
has no case to answer and he has no trial to face. So why exactly is
Tony Taylor in Jail? Why was he taken from his home and placed
indefinitely in a prison cell? He certainly doesn’t know why nor does
his family or lawyers; his predicament can be summed up with only one
word – Internment!

This is a word that in 2016 people are hesitant to use, it has an
emotive history in Ireland, where hundreds of people in the 70’s had
been wholesale subjected to internment. There are even those who
somewhat support Tony who are at pains to avoid using this word when
talking about Tony’s case, yet anyone with the faintest knowledge of
British abuse again Irish Republicans will know that internment is
exactly what Tony is a victim of.

It is no secret that Tony Taylor is an ex Republican political prisoner
and indeed is still a proud and active Republican. Tony had served 3
years previously in Jail and was released in 2014. Tony was a member of
Republican Network for Unity, a perfectly legal Political organisation
and he contributed significantly to the local politics in Derry raising
issues such as benefit cuts, prison conditions and policing issues.

It is precisely this, Tony’s politics which has led to his internment.
Ireland in 2016 is a cold house for Republicanism, anyone who doesn’t
rubber stamp the good Friday agreement is a threat to the state, state
sanctioned harassment is a daily occurrence for Irish Republicans and in
Tony’s case it would seem to me that the extreme of internment has been
used against him to try and make him toe the political line.

Of course we have seen this before, in the last few years a number of
high profile interments have taken place such as that of Martin Corey
and Marian Price, Tony is just the latest victim and undoubtedly he
won’t be the last. The revocation of Tony’s licence is justified
ostensibly with the line that he is a “risk to the Public”. Any
justification they are using to intern Tony is of course subject to
secrecy with neither Tony nor his legal team able to see any evidence
against him, which of course means he cannot be defended against any
allegations.

The current climate worldwide allows governments to act in this secret
and abusive way, the general public are happy to believe that these
“measures” are taken for their protection that “they” must have a good
and valid reason for doing it and that is as far as their thinking goes.
This apathy of the general public is essential for governments carrying
out this sort of abuse and so it’s up to us all to highlight to the
general public why they should be concerned, such is the apathy that
these secret agencies do not even need to go through the bother of
creating trumped up charges.

Tony Taylor is a victim of the secret Police and agencies working in
Ireland, instead of transparently enforcing the rule of law and being
subject to public scrutiny as ordinary police agencies do, their modus
operandi is to operate beyond and above the law in order to suppress
political dissent, anyone who comes under the scrutiny of the secret
police can expect to be arbitrarily arrested and detained without due
process.

The internment of Tony Taylor strikes at the very heart of democracy and
the right to a fair trial. The use of secret evidence and secret police
is not something that anyone would expect in the western world in 2016,
yet is going on in Ireland; this should be enough for any citizen to
publicly question what is going on.

It is now time that the media investigated this case that those
concerned with human rights issues demand an explanation as to why Tony
Taylor has been taken from his home and incarcerated due to secret
evidence that we cannot see. I question the secret evidence, is there
evidence at all? Or is this a well-rehearsed ploy to stifle political
dissent?

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do
nothing.”