"Whatever one's opinion of Michael McKevitt's political views, and I for one fundamentally disagree with him, he is entitled to justice through a fair trial in front of a jury."
Jim Gibney
Reports obtained from:
(1) Irish News, (2) Irish Republican News
Monday-Thursday, 28-31 August, 2006
Thursday-Sunday, 10-13 August, 2006
Monday-Thursday, 28-31 August, 2006
Analysis: Injustice must always be opposed and exposed
Britain's history in Ireland is one of brutality and inhumanity, often characterised through the abuse of political prisoners.
By Jim Gibney (for the Irish News)
One would have thought that the British government would have learnt that lesson by now and would know that not only is the maltreatment of prisoners entirely wrong it is also entirely counter-productive.
All prisoners are entitled to humane prison conditions, to proper medical facilities and to be treated with dignity.
For this reason Gerry Adams publicly called recently on the British government to transfer those Irish prisoners seeking repatriation to Ireland and to resolve the dispute in Maghaberry by introducing decent prison conditions.
This was the public expression of a demand that the Sinn Fein negotiating team have repeatedly made to both the British and Irish governments.
In Maghaberry Prison 30 republican prisoners are experiencing a vindictive regime.
An oppressive and hostile system of controlled movement regulates the prisoner's lives.
They are confined to their cells, denied adequate washing facilities and are forced to eat all meals in their cells.
Objections from the prisoners to this treatment results in them being put on bogus charges and punished by losing remission.
Aiden Hume is a 27-year-old native of County Louth serving a 22-year sentence in Belmarsh Prison in England.
He was convicted for his alleged part in a bombing campaign in 2001 in England.
Before his arrest he was involved in an accident severely damaging one of his legs.
While in prison his injured leg has deteriorated to the point where prison doctors have told him his leg needs to be amputated.
He believes this condition has been caused by medical neglect.
On four occasions the prison authorities cancelled an operation depriving him of the urgent medical attention he needs to save his leg.
Aiden believes repatriation to an Irish prison offers him the best chance of getting proper medical attention.
Since September 2005 the Department of Justice in Dublin has had his transfer application.
Aiden and his family believe the Justice Minister Michael McDowell is deliberately blocking his transfer.
His transfer application is supported by Sinn Fein, the SDLP, an independent TD and the Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas.
Mickey McKevitt is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Portlaoise on the word of a paid informer.
McKevitt's sentence followed a disturbing trial involving the informer David Rupert, the FBI, MI5, the Garda Special Branch, the Director of Public Prosecution and a number of senior judges.
During the trial Rupert was shown to be a thoroughly disreputable person who inhabited a world of criminality and deceit throughout his entire life.
Several files characterising Rupert and penned by MI5 operatives were presented to the court, and in my view destroyed his credibility as a person worthy of giving evidence in a court of law:
McKevitt's defence revealed Rupert to be involved in a string of dubious ventures: a career informer for the FBI from 1974, gambling deals with the Mafia in Florida, drug dealing, tax evasion, bouncing cheques, white slave trading involving two young (minor) girls, human trafficking, arms, explosives, and other contraband smuggled across the Canadian border.
Under relentless cross-examination by McKevitt's defence Rupert sought refuge in memory loss.
He said 'I don't recall' over 1,000 times!
He was convicted and his conviction upheld by an appeal court on the grounds that Rupert was a 'credible witness'.
Informers insidiously undermine justice.
They pollute and corrupt those they touch. They put justice on trial.
Whatever one's opinion of Michael McKevitt's political views, and I for one fundamentally disagree with him, he is entitled to justice through a fair trial in front of a jury.
Political manipulation of the judicial system is not only wrong it is counter productive.
Injustice whether at the hands of British or Irish judges must be opposed and exposed.
Copyright © 2006 Irish News
Thursday-Sunday, 10-13 August, 2006
Campaign for release of Michael McKevitt grows
By Irish Republican News
A campaign to overturn the conviction of the republican prisoner Michael McKevitt gained momentum yesterday as a distinguished panel of human-rights advocates assembled in Belfast to highlight his case.
Mr McKevitt, a 54-year-old from Blackrock in County Louth, was given a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted at Dublin's Special Criminal Court in August 2003 of "membership of an illegal organisation" and "directing terrorism".
His conviction was based on the evidence of the paid FBI and MI5 informer David Rupert.
In July this year, Mr McKevitt was given leave to appeal against his conviction. His legal team said that the authorities had failed to provide information to the defence about the tax affairs of Mr Rupert.
The appeal is to go to the Dublin Supreme Court for a hearing.
Supporters of Mr McKevitt have said that Mr Rupert testified against Mr McKevitt for selfish financial gain and that the trial had been politically directed by MI5 and senior gardai.
Members of the McKevitt family held a public meeting at the Balmoral Hotel on Belfast's Blacks Road at thw weekend.
They were accompanied by the human-rights campaigning clerics Monsignor Raymond Murray, Fr Joseph McVeigh and Fr Des Wilson.
Mark Thompson and Clara Reilly, both from the Belfast-based anti-collusion group Relatives for Justice, also attacked Mr McKevitt's conviction.
Monsignor Murray told the meeting that Mr McKevitt's conviction had been "profoundly disturbing" and that it had been a case of the law "crawling in humble submission before the will of the state and the media".
"Media wise and in state commentary, Michael McKevitt's name was linked with the Real IRA and then automatically, in speculation, of participation in the Omagh bombing.
"Neither Michael nor his wife Bernadette McKevitt have been questioned or arrested by the police for the Omagh bombing," he said.
The veteran campaigner said a spurious association between Mr McKevitt and the Omagh bombing had created a climate in which political agencies could manipulate the judiciary to convict the Louth man.
"This shocking atrocity is surrounded by unanswered questions regarding the foreknowledge of the bombing on the part of MI5 and Special Branch," Monsignor Murray added.
He called the use of David Rupert "a perversion of justice".
"Evidence of paid and schooled informants resembles internment, where persons were put in jail on the suspicion, prejudice or dislike of anonymous agents.
"The social and political consequences of accepting evidence of a long-term paid informant like Rupert are very serious and long-lasting," he said.
Monsignor Murray said The Framing of Michael McKevitt, a pamphlet written by the hunger striker Bobby Sands' sister Marcella Sands, presented a "strong argument for the innocence of Michael McKevitt".
The McKevitt family, who recently met several European human-rights groups and the United Nations rapporteur, intend to take their case to the European Commission and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Bernadette Sands McKevitt, the wife of Michael McKevitt and a sister of Bobby Sands, said it was becoming clearer to more people that the conviction against her husband had been "politically contrived and legally flawed".
"The case is gaining a profile in Italy, Germany and other parts of Europe. The media can be subdued in Ireland but we are campaigning on a wider platform.
"We are confident that the Irish people can be reached and the travesty of Michael's conviction and the role of MI5 in this country can be exposed," she said.
She urged the public to support the campaign, which has recently launched a website, michaelmckevitt.com.
"The Sands family have faced difficult times in the past. This is another issue based around human rights and exposing the British state. This is about pursuing justice and the truth, and my brother Bobby would have expected nothing less of me," she said.
Thursday-Sunday, 10-13 August, 2006
'Diplock' courts to remain
By Irish Republican News
Special non-jury 'Diplock' courts are to remain part of the British judicial system in the North of Ireland, it has been confirmed.
Although British Direct Ruler Peter Hain has said such courts will become the exception in future, they will still be deployed in those circumstances where a jury might find a suspect innocent.
Under new proposals, the Director of the Crown Prosecution Service will still be able to decide if a case should be tried without a jury. Any legal challenge will also go before a non-jury court.
University of Ulster academic Angela Hegarty has asked why British rule in Ireland still needed non-jury trials.
Ms Hegarty said the trials are not part of the legal system in Britain, despite growing concerns there about international terrorism.
"Is there a need to retain these exceptional powers in Northern Ireland if there are no such powers in England, Scotland or Wales?" she said.
Ms Hegarty said there are already provisions to deal with the possibility of jury intimidation under the government's Criminal Justice Review.
She said that the right to a jury trial was a "cornerstone of the common law system".
And she said proposals to prevent defence teams from having access to jurors' personal information may also undermine the lawyers' position.
Diplock trials were introduced as a 'temporary' measure in 1973 to cope with republican armed struggle without using internment.
The system has remained in place 33 years on, although the number of non-jury trials has fallen to around 60 each year compared with more than 300 in 1986.
The reforms have been criticised by the SDLP, which claims the government was only pretending to abolish Diplock courts.
North Belfast assembly member Alban Maginness said the changes did not go "nearly far enough".
"Diplock courts are not being abolished," he said.
"What the British government is actually attempting is pretending to abolish Diplock courts while at the same time creating a mechanism to keep them."
Sinn Fein Justice spokesperson Gerry Kelly said his party had a commitment from the British goverment that they would abolish Diplock Courts.
"It is important that the British government move quickly to remove this repressive measure from the Criminal Justice System," he said.
ORDE BACKS WIRETAPS
Meanwhile, PSNI police Chief Hugh Orde has demanded to be able to use phone tapping evidence in court.
Orde said the provision should be introduced as "a weapon of last resort". Wiretaps on landlines and mobile phones are understood to be extremely common in the North of Ireland, while details of every call and text message are available to police. However, wiretap evidence is not currently considered admissible under British law.
Sinn Fein West Tyrone Assemblyman Barry McElduff said civil libertarians around the world would attack the practice.
"In principle I would be opposed to this technology. In Ireland's case we should not be subject to British Government listening devices," he said.
"I believe they are omnipresent and endemic in Ireland. The British Government should come clean and reveal the extent of its eavesdropping apparatus."