Posted by admin on February 26, 2014
Donegal republican John Downey walked free today after a court in London
said charges against him of taking part in an IRA campaign in 1982
amounted to “an abuse of process”. But the decision to release him has
created confusion and anger in the north of Ireland over a previously
secret scheme to tackle the issue of OTRs — those ‘on the run’ from
outstanding conflict-related prosecutions.
The case against Mr Downey collapsed at the Old Bailey after the judge
acknowledged that he was one of almost two hundred people who have
received letters assuring them they did not face arrest and prosecution
on IRA charges.
The decision was announced at a hearing into whether his trial should go
ahead for an attack in Hyde Park in London in which four British
soldiers died.
The deal between the British government and Sinn Fein to provide
assurance for certain republicans facing outstanding prosecutions had
never been detailed before.
Mr Justice Sweeney heard from Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly that a total of
187 people had received letters from the British government confirming
that they did not face arrest or prosecution.
The letters formed an ad-hoc mechanism to resolve the long-running issue
of OTRs. The court heard that the first letters had come from 10 Downing
Street, when Tony Blair was Prime minister.
Blair’s chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, told the hearing he was the
signatory of the initial letters. Later signatories to similar letters
were senior officials in the Northern Ireland Office, he said.
“Although this had not been the solution first envisaged by the British
government in its wish to deal with this particular aspect of the past,
nevertheless it was intended to provide a solution that worked in
practice even if more slowly and in a more cumbersome and less universal
way than had been wished by those negotiating on behalf of Sinn Fein.”
Former British Direct Ruler Peter Hain told the court that an
“administrative scheme” that had begun as a temporary measure, became
the means by which the issue of OTRS was dealt with, when efforts to
establish a formal mechanism failed.
“The scheme addressed the position of individuals who, through Sinn
Fein, put their names forward,” Hain said.
“To qualify for consideration, the offences for which each individual
who believed he or she might be suspected, or ‘wanted’, in some cases
already convicted and having escaped from prison, should have been
committed before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 and
have been connected with the conflict in Northern Ireland.
“The group to which the individual concerned was affiliated, ie the IRA,
must adhere to the commitment to cessation of armed conflict.
“Whilst the first cases pressed by Sinn Fein concerned those who lived
and had family in the north of Ireland, the scheme extended to
applicants in the Republic of Ireland who had no such relationships and
to persons whose extradition had been actively sought from within other
jurisdictions.
“The scheme was not limited to offences committed in the north of
Ireland.”
The court judgement did not address the issue of why some OTRs received
letters of assurance while others, such as independent republican Gerry
McGeough, had not. Mr McGeough, a former member of the Sinn Fein
leadership, was released in January last year after serving two years
for an IRA attack near the border in 1981.
Mr Downey received his letter in 2007. The court heard Mr Downey had
attended peace workshops and had played a “central and significant role”
in building relationships between republican and loyalist former
prisoners groups in Derry.
At that time his letter was issued, Mr Downey was still listed on the
British police national computer as wanted by the London police. The
letter he received from the Northern Ireland Office was described by
Crown prosecutors as a “mistake”.
Nevertheless, Mr Downey had successfully relied on the letter to visit
London on several occasions and also to visit members of his family in
Canada. He was inexplicably arrested in May last year at Gatwick airport
on his way to Greece.
In staying the trial of Mr Downey, Mr Justice Sweeney said “there has
been no sensible explanation” for the failures of the system.
Sinn Fein’s Francie Molloy said the judge’s decision was a “good” one.
The MP for Mid Ulster said John Downey should never have been arrested,
because the “on the run” policy to clear people had been part of the
Good Friday Agreement.
But DUP leader Peter Robinson called the conclusion “an outrage and a
dark day for justice”. He said Mr Downey had been handed “a get out of
jail free card” and urged an appeal against the decision.
“Every conceivable avenue should be exhausted. Justice should not have a
sell-by date,” he said.
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams welcomed the decision. He said that
following the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, it was publicly accepted by
the Dublin and London governments that “an anomaly existed” in respect
of OTRs.
“Both governments gave firm commitments to deal with this matter. A
process was put in place to deal with outstanding cases including that
of John Downey.
“The arrest of John Downey by the London police was in clear breach of
this and of the commitments given by the British government in 2004
during the peace process negotiations at Weston Park and in subsequent
negotiations.
“John Downey should never have been arrested and this has been
vindicated by the court decision.”
Posted by Jim on
BY ASHLEIGH McDONALD – 25 February 2014
A republican activist who posted pictures of serving police officers on Facebook has been acquitted of terror charges after a judge said there was no evidence of sinister reasons for doing so.
Eirigi Press officer Stephen Murney accused police and prosecutors of internment by remand, saying he spent “14 months in custody for nothing” after he was cleared yesterday.
Mr Murney (30), from Derrybeg Terrace in Newry, stood trial earlier this year on seven counts of publishing, collecting and possessing information likely to be of use to terrorists between August 2011 and July 2012.
He was accused of publishing on his Facebook page photographs of police officers on duty.
Speaking outside court having been acquitted on all charges, Mr Murney thanked his legal team and described his period in custody as “internment on remand” and vowed to continue his work as a Press officer with eirigi.
During the Diplock, non-jury trial held at Belfast Crown Court, the prosecution said the photos were found on a computer along with two videos on an iPhone, during a police search of his Newry home in November 2012.
Mr Murney took photos of police officers in June 2012 as the Olympic torch passed through the city.
He took images of officers who were policing a protest in support of republican prisoners and against searches in Maghaberry Prison which were taking place at the time. Mr Murney was part of this protest and was the Press officer for eirigi, which organised the protest. He later published the images on his Facebook page.
Mr Murney also published photographs in August 2011 and July 2012 of himself being stopped and searched by police, as well as collecting and making a record of the policing of a Twelfth parade in Newry which showed the faces of officers.
The court heard that when Mr Murney’s home was searched in November 2012 photos of police officers on duty in Newry and Belfast were found, along with a minute-long video of a police operation on the A1 where a bus believed to be carrying explosives was stopped and searched.
When asked about the images of him being stopped and searched, Mr Murney made the case that he was recording the incidents to show the Committee on the Administration of Justice, as he believed he was being harassed by the PSNI.
Judge Corinne Philpott said: “There is no evidence before this court that eirigi supports violence, or has argued for violent action to be taken against the police, or that the organisation is directly linked to those that support terrorist activity.”
She said the prosecution had failed to prove its claims beyond reasonable doubt and ruled the accused was entitled to an acquittal.
A statement issued on behalf of Mr Murney afterwards said: “Even though it was clear from the very outset that these charges were completely without substance, both the PSNI and prosecution service have persisted with a legalised charade which resulted in my imprisonment from December 2012. There is no other way of describing that charade except as ‘internment by remand’.”
BACKGROUND
Stephen Murney (30) faced seven counts of publishing, collecting and possessing information likely to be of use to terrorists between August 2011 and July 2012. The prosecution claimed the photos were found on a computer and two videos were found on an iPhone after a police search of Murney’s Derrybeg Terrace home in November 2012. He was remanded in custody for 14 months.
Posted by Jim on February 25, 2014
as reported by Irish Central
National AOH President Brendan Moore has said there is frustration among his 80,000 members about the continuing stand-off and negative publicity over the New York parade and the gay marching issue.
Moore points out that the AOH no longer runs the parade yet continues to receive criticism over events surrounding it.They ended their association several years ago for fear of legal entanglement.
The parade is run by the New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee, unaffiliated with the Hibernians, he pointed out.
He stated that he believes Parade Chairman John Dunleavy is no longer an active Hibernian.
He stated that AOH members outside New York were frustrated at how their organization was being portrayed.
“We are an American-wide organization, the largest Irish group in the U.S.,” he stated. “Many of our members in places outside New York really don’t want to focus all the attention on this stand-off in New York. They feel there is much more to the Hibernians story.”
“While it is a big deal to people in New York national Hibernians don’t look at it that way,”
Moore, who lives in New York, said the success story of the AOH in recent years has been partly subsumed in the parade controversy. Several thousand are expected at their biannual conference in St.Louis this summer.
He said new chapters in Fort Worth and Austin in Texas and in Dubuque, Iowa in recent months confirmed that the organization was going from strength to strength. He said there were 2,300 Hibernians now active in Texas with 1,200 women AOH members also.
“That is the message we want to spread,” he said. The AOH is strong and is fighting on important issues such as the dreadful stereotyping of the Irish on St.Patrick’s Day and on immigration reform and the resolution of the peace process in Northern Ireland.”
The organization recently led a successful effort to get Bed, Bath and Beyond to stop selling anti-Irish products and have organized a national campaign against Spencer’s stores on the same issue.
“We have much to do,” said Moore,”Those are our priorities.”
Posted by Jim on February 24, 2014
Posted by Jim on
MARTIN GALVIN
ATTORNEY AT LAW
BRONX, NEW YORK, 10451
January 28, 2014
EDITOR
IRISH NEWS
113-117 Donegal Street
Belfast, Northern Ireland
BTI 2GE
DEFEATING IMMORAL DETENTION WITHOUT TRIAL
The headline of Jim Gibney’s column following Martin Corey’s release, “Detention without trial is an immoral practice” is dead on. Lamentably, the British have marked their cards that Martin Corey will not be the last subjected to Internment by License. Why would the British give up a carefully crafted device which they see as a success?
Britain did not halt its 1971-5 version of Internment because Merlyn Rees and the British regime were suddenly conscience stricken about the numbers of Irish caged behind the wire without charge or trial. Internment was beaten, by the unbreakable spirit of the internees and their families surely, but also because supporters vowed that “round the world the truth will echo”. As a student I can still remember the outrage I felt rising inside me the first time I heard campaigners detail British mistreatment of the “Hooded Men” and other internees.
These families and campaigners did not stop until British officials were sickened by unanswerable questions about why they imprisoned so many unwilling Irish subjects without charge or trial.
The British have put up formidable barriers to block such ‘truth echoing’ today. Like Pontius Pilate, British colonial secretaries wash their hands of Martin Corey and blame the Parole Commissioners’ rubber-stamp. The British boast that Parole Commissioners answer to the compromised Justice Ministry of David Ford, adding that Ford sits with Sinn Fein’s backing.
Martin Corey was banished from his home and county. One wonders if he spends his time in internal exile trying to guess which ex-prisoners, Republicans or suspected Republican sympathizers must be avoided because the British secretly list them illegal to associate with and another excuse to return him to Maghaberry.
He is hostage for the silence of his solicitors, family and close friends. Speaking against the injustice done Martin Corey will trigger his re-Internment and more injustice.
British officials who once coldly measured an acceptable level of violence are not troubled by calculations of an acceptable level of Internment. They calculate whether nationalists and Republicans will sit still at Stormont for familiar names like Martin Corey and Marion Price, being Interned by License, while others including Alec McCrory, Colin Duffy, and more to come, are Interned by Remand.
Press statements and party resolutions mean little to the crown so long as the party members who issue them remain at Stormont or on constabulary boards as visible tokens of assent for the crown’s “immoral practice”.
Can Republicans take the kind of bold initiative necessary to show the British that we are serious? When Gerry McGeough was arrested on decades old charges, it was said that unless Republicans refused to swallow this injustice others would pay. John Downey and Seamus Kearney are paying the price.
MARTIN GALVIN