 |
Supporters rally for Martin Corey's release |
A Belfast judge ordered him released on unconditional bail on July 9 because he was being held on the basis of secret evidence neither he nor is lawyers had been allowed to see. His family rushed to the prison to bring him home.
But while Corey was sitting in the prison reception area and his family was waiting outside, Owen Paterson, the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, overruled the judge and ordered him re-arrested. Later, two judges confirmed that he can be held at least until a September 28 hearing.
Corey received a life sentence in December 1973, when he was 19 years old, for killing two members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force, in an IRA operation. He served 19 years and was released in June 1992. He returned home to Lurgan in County Aramgh, where he worked steadily, formed an ongoing relationship and became a highly respected member of the local community.
The police appeared at Corey's door and took him away to prison in the early hours of April 16, 2010, almost 18 years after his release. His younger brother Joe described what happened:
They came to the door at around 6 a.m. There was about 12 of them standing there when I answered the door. They asked for Martin and told me the Secretary of State had revoked his [parole]. They gave no reason for this. There was no struggle. He just got up and walked out with them. They brought him to Maghaberry, where he has been ever since.
Corey wasn't charged with any crime and wasn't told what, if anything, he was supposed to have done. He was simply informed that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland had revoked his license (parole, in American terms) because he was a "security risk." Later, it was claimed that "he was involved with dissident republicans."
In 2011, Corey told The Lurgan Mail:
I have been in prison for nearly a year and a half, and I still haven't been given a reason. They have put forward a number of allegations against me, and I'm not able to defend myself against any of them. They say I have been seen speaking to known republicans, and that I visited a number of houses. What does that matter? It doesn't mean I've done anything wrong. They have absolutely nothing on me, and that's why they haven't charged me.
His partner, Lynda Magee, said, 'He does not know what he has done and has been told nothing about why he is being held. He has already served his time, and he was willing to do it. But now he is being held for no reason.'
Corey is a member of Republican Sinn Fein, a legal political party throughout Ireland. They are opposed to the Good Friday Agreement because they believe it perpetuates British rule in Northern Ireland.
Republican Sinn Fein is almost universally believed to be affiliated with the Continuity IRA in the same way that Sinn Fein was traditionally affiliated with the IRA. This can be used to justify imprisoning Martin Corey because he is a "dissident republican" and a threat to the peace process.
But people on both sides of the Atlantic who have little or no sympathy with Martin Corey's politics are demanding that he be released.
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams met Owen Paterson in the Dáil (Irish parliament) and urged him to free Martin Corey. Adams stated that 'Martin Corey was released by the courts ... [He] should be released, and I put it very strongly to Mr. Paterson that this should be done.'
At their recent convention, the Ancient Order of the Hibernians passed a resolution:
that the Ancient Order of Hibernians in America condemns Owen Patterson for the continued imprisonment of Martin Corey and urges that the judge's ruling be enforced and that be released immediately on unconditional bail.
Many people were especially alarmed when Patterson overruled the judge's decision and ordered Corey back to prison. He had twice ordered Marian Price, another political prisoner, re-imprisoned after a judge released her on bail, claiming he was revoking her license.
If Paterson can get away with this, no political prisoner who may have been released on license will ever be safe. Owen Paterson has effectively placed himself above the law and is imprisoning people at will. This means that it's no longer enough to campaign for one or another of the political prisoners, as essential as this has been. It's time to broaden our campaign to include as many prisoners as possible and challenge the whole policy of locking people up on the basis of secret evidence.
As Northern Ireland civil rights leader Bernadette Devlin McAliskey put it:
The direct action of the British Government, through their Northern Ireland Office, in abusing executive authority to overrule the independent decisions of the judicial system in both the Corey and Price cases is the clearest indication to date of how little has really changed in Northern Ireland in respect of accountable democracy.
The Good Friday Agreement promised an end to this abuse of human rights and democracy. It is long past time it delivered on this promise. It is also time the international power players who created this deformity of democracy held it to account
Paterson and his selective interment policy needs to end why should people respect the judicial system when those above have control to ignore it what exactly does that tell people.
ReplyDeleteFrom George Mclaughlin:
ReplyDeleteMarian Price (McGlinchey) has been imprisoned in Northern Ireland without charge since May, 2011, most of it in solitary confinement. She was arrested but never charged, based on a supposed revocation of her license (parole) from charges almost 40 years ago in 1973 when she was convicted of an IRA bombing in England. She has not been allowed to see the evidence the state says supports her indefinite detention. Her release has been ordered on two occasions by judges. However, on both occasions the secretary of state has overruled those decisions. Although Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Owen Paterson claims he has “revoked Marian’s license,” when Marian was released in 1973 it was not on license but via a Royal Pardon, which mysteriously has “gone missing” from The UK Home Office (the only time in history). The Secretary of State has taken the view that unless a paper copy can be located it must be assumed that she has never had a royal pardon after all—for more than 4 decades. Marian Price’s physical and mental health has continued to deteriorate. We her fear for her life now.
Martin Corey has been imprisoned without charge in Northern Ireland for over 2 years, since April 2010. During the war in the north, when he was 19 years old, Martin was convicted, as a member of the Provisional IRA, of the murder of two Royal Ulster Constabulary members. He spent 19 years in prison and was finally released in June 1992. 20 years later, without warning on April 16th 2010 he was arrested and imprisoned. No reason was given to Martin at the time or since his return to jail and he has not been charged with a crime nor has any evidence been produced in court. He was released by a judge in July, 2012, the judge ruling that the parole commissioners had breached Corey's human rights in refusing to release him because his arrest and detention were solely based on secret intelligence against which he was unable to defend himself. He was immediately rearrested by order of Owen Paterson, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Gerry McGeough was arrested on 8 March 2007 by the Police Service of Northern Ireland while leaving the election count center in Omagh, County Tyrone. He was a candidate for office at that time, running as a nationalist alternative to Sinn Fein. He was charged with a crime committed a quarter of a century earlier, in 1981—the IRA shooting of a member of the Ulster Defense Regiment who is now a councilor for the Democratic Unionist Party. Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement and the Weston Park Accord, which have benefited many other defendants, Gerry McGeough should never have been brought before the courts. Even under the current guidelines he could be released in February, 2012. Gerry has suffered two heart attacks in the past year and has had five stints inserted. His health continues to deteriorate.
We urge Mr. Paterson to act expeditiously on these three cases. We fear that if he does not act soon, the fires of rage and discontent will once again be ignited, and only he and those behind the veil of governmental secrecy will bear responsibility. In the interest of a sound and continued peace in Ireland we believe that justice will only be served by a commitment to due process and to national and international law. Therefore, we call upon the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Owen Paterson, to authorize the immediate release of Marian Price and Martin Corey and to commit himself and his government to February, 2012 as the release date for Gerry McGeough
Send an email to Owen Paterson, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland asking that these three prisoners be released--
The.Secretary@nio.x.gsi.gov.uk
The Brits have a need to be smug. They have done it all over the world. It's what makes them feel good about themselves that they can behave like this and at the very same time lambast others countries judicial systems.
ReplyDeletethe biggest obstacle to assisting the prisoners is the animosity and demand of exclusivity of the groups masquerading as being at war, along with the at best indifference of the political elite.
ReplyDeleteit is tragic to watch the plight of these prisoners and know i or you could be one this time next year on the same national security wall of secrecy for geriatric republicans who still believe yet break no law, at least none we can be told about!
and we can hardly muster 50 people between all the affected groups out there to stand together on a protest. even though i'm an agnostic, god help marian, martin and gerry and the other victims of the holy grail of devolved policing and justice powers
hodgie
ReplyDeleteThat's the best sumary of it i've seen to date.
Breivik kills 70 people, bombs Norwegian Parliament and gets 21 yrs with a 10 yr minimum detention stipultaion. Martin Corey integrates back into the Lurgan community for 18 yrs and gets slung into jail without reason or release date. Gotta love the British sense of 'fair-play'.
ReplyDeleteThis is a link to the latest amendments to the new P.T.A. 2011
ReplyDeletehttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/23/contents.
it is very scary reading, and out dates all previous acts passed by the British.
firstly, all control orders have been abolished.
2nd. The secretary of state can have anyone arrested without having to apply to a court.
The reading on the above link can be daunting and very hard to follow.
but the most daunting thing is, if and when those who are interned are released, they can be returned to prison on the orders of MI5/MI6/ secretary of State.
Draconian to say the least.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/23/crossheading/enforcement
ReplyDeletethe above link contains the following.
Enforcement23Offence(1)An individual is guilty of an offence if—
(a)a TPIM notice is in force in relation to the individual, and
(b)the individual contravenes, without reasonable excuse, any measure specified in the TPIM notice.
(2)If the individual has the permission of the Secretary of State by virtue of Schedule 1 for an act which would, without that permission, contravene such a measure, the individual contravenes that measure by virtue of that act if the act is not in accordance with the terms of the permission.
(3)An individual guilty of an offence under subsection (1) is liable—
(a)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to a fine, or to both;
(b)on summary conviction in England and Wales, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or to both;
(c)on summary conviction in Northern Ireland, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or to both;
(d)on summary conviction in Scotland, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or to both.
(4)In relation to an offence committed before the commencement of section 154(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, the reference in subsection (3)(b) to 12 months is to be read as a reference to 6 months.
(5)Where an individual is convicted by or before a court of an offence under subsection (1), it is not open to that court to make in respect of the offence—
(a)an order under section 12(1)(b) of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 (conditional discharge);
(b)an order under section 227A of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (community payback orders); or
(c)an order under Article 4(1)(b) of the Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (S.I. 1996/3160 (N.I. 24)) (conditional discharge in Northern Ireland).
I'm sure those of the legal mind could juggle these acts, especially the one about the maximum sentence of 6 months in Northern Ireland, assuming that person sentenced was in a court of law.
Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures = TPIM
itsjustmacker
ReplyDeletePutin would be jealous.
Statement by Gerry McGeough on the Civil Rights March from Coalisland to Dungannon, August 26, 2012.
ReplyDeleteIn 1968 my parents marched in the first civil rights march from Coalisland to Dungannon. I was too young at that time to take part in the march. Today, 40 years on, I am unjustly incarcerated by the British Government and will, once again, be unable to march for civil rights in the north of Ireland. However, I send my total support and solidarity to those organizers of this march from the Republican wing of Maghaberry prison. It is time to end Britain’s continued misrule of our country and the human and civil rights abuses that go with it.
I would also like to express my humble and warm appreciation for all of the support I have received over the years and I ask that all of you continue to stand up to the injustices inflicted upon our people by the Unionist and the British Government. It is time for England to get out of Ireland and put an end to our misery.