Say No To Political Extradition To Britain

From Portlaoise Prison Ciaran Maguire with:

An Open Letter To The Irish People 


My name is Ciaran Maguire, I'm 29 years old and I am from Finglas. I have an elderly grandmother who I live with and care for. I have a girlfriend, mother, sister, brother and nephews. All of this is set to be taken away from me, as I face being extradited to Maghaberry torture camp, along with my co-accused, Sean Farrell from Crumlin.

We were arrested in 2015 and released without charge. T then two years later we were taken away from our families in the early hours of the morning and told that the six county state was demanding our extradition. I have already lost my job as a result of these allegations. And if extradited I face the stark reality of forced strip searches, controlled movement, beatings and intimidation from Loyalist sectarian screws. Dozens of these brutal strip searches will occur during my trial.

As a result of Brexit Britain is expected to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Justice. Consequently, the legal safeguards which are guaranteed to European citizens under human rights legislation will no longer protect me.

It must also be borne in mind that I am a Dublin man, who will be thrown into a Gaol which is staffed by notoriously sectarian loyalist screws, controlled by the shadowy and unacceptable MI5 organisation. This is a recipe for human rights violations.

Furthermore, it is not only myself who will be expected to endure a hate and intimidation filled environment. Harassment and sectarian abuse is also a common experience of friends and family members who visit prisoners in Maghaberry gaol.

I want to appeal directly to you who is reading this: if you believe in the basic entitlement of everyone to human rights then I call on you to support the Anti-Extradition Campaign.

Stop the extradition of Irish Political Prisoners now!

5 comments:

  1. Amazing how details are so easily omitted when the desire to elicit sympathy is paramount...

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  2. Steve, our uncles/brothers/fathers that find themselves in this predicament dont need to add or omitt anything to elicit our sympathy.Without commenting on this specific case,the womans yellow hair that maddens every mothers son is Irish lore.

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  3. DaithiD,

    They are in the predicament they are in because they got caught. Ciaran got lifted in a stolen car suspiciously after a cop's missus noticed someone trying to put a smokie under her Husband's car. Not saying it was him but when the Garda completed the forensics on the clothes taken from the stolen car the PSNI wanted a word with him.

    What about the predicament the cops wife and children would have been in had the bomb been successful?

    Or maybe he "Didn't realise the seriousness" of planting a bomb, much like throwing a Molotov at Gardai!

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  4. Steve, again in general, this is why I think the Blanket/TPQ have been so important, I think they asked searching questions of the romantic Ireland myth that has intoxicated generations (AM's Bleakness Decends/Diedre Quinns Dirty Money & a River of Blood)are the examples that come to mind first.

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  5. DaithiD,

    True, and regardless of my penchant for skepticism when reading pleas of sympathy I absolutely regret that Irishmen and women are incarcerated either North or South for actions undertaken on the misguided belief that some goal will be obtained as a product of violence. Questions need to be asked. Who is convincing someone from Dublin that travelling a hundred miles to try to commit murder is furthering anything? I remain completely dismayed when I read the ages of the young fella from Craigavon too. A life ruined before it started and for what? No political agenda was forwarded on iota. I'm a Loyalist but still view Republican ideology as a perfectly valid one, but violence is no longer even expedient from ANY quarter. I guess time has mellowed me so much that I'm a pacifist (except for jihadis-can't reason with them).

    The real enemy is Old money Tory capitalism. Regardless of whether it's in the Republic or UK. But violence won't work against these bastards, only civil non-compliance within the political system would.

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