IRPWA Call for International Action

The IRPWA has called for an international sanction
against the Free State government for their use of internment
in the 26 Counties. Spokesman Martin Mulholland
was speaking after yet another Republican was charged
with IRA membership despite no concrete evidence being
produced save the word of a senior member of the
Gardai.
Speaking in Dublin Mr Mulholland told The
Sovereign Nation "It is getting ridiculous now the amount of
men getting effectively interned in the south on the word of a
politically motivated, anti-Republican police force. Many men
have been charged and convicted on the strength of associations
and on what gardai 'believe to be true'.
Recently a Kildare man stood trial for membership
of the IRA after a period in custody and a long period on bail
with severe restrictions. This mans human rights were
infringed upon with his ability to travel, attend events and
associate with whom he chose, curtailed. The evidence
against this man was laughable consisting mainly of a humorous
T-Shirt (available almost anywhere, including high street
stores) and domestic clocks. The police also claimed that this
man associated with members of the IRA but given that they
need no objective proof to state these men were in the IRA,
that again is suspect.
The Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association
believe that if the so called 'proof' that has put many anti
agreement Republicans in Portlaoise in the last few years
were to be independently and objectively examined at an
international court (such as the European court of Human
rights) or their cases referred to somewhere like the UN
Human Rights Commission then the international community
could see what passes for justice in this banana Republic of
theirs.
It is noted by various Human Rights organizations
that under the so-called ‘offences against the State Act’ literally
anyone can be sent by the Director of Public Prosecutions
to trial at the Dublin Special Criminal Court, and they do not
have to give any reason whatsoever. At a time when America
and Britain are coming under criticism for jailing anyone they
deem politically undesirable, it seems too few in the political
establishment here are loathe to pick up on the injustices
occuring on their own doorstep.
If there were any confirmations that the 26 County
State had more than a passing resemblance to its British
counterpart (especially in dealing with Republicans) it would
be here in its continued use of diplock non-jury courts and
repressive ‘legal’ apparatus.
These laws and practices would be the envy of any
South American right wing tin pot dictatorship, and it is time
the Irish people acted and spoke out. We would urge anyone
who has been charged or convicted of membership without
any additional charge to look at the possibility of taking further
legal advice with a view to having their cases re-examined.
The IRPWA and our comrades in the 32 County Sovereignty
Movement intend on raising the profile of these human rights
abuses in the coming weeks and months."