The Five Demands

Christopher Donaldson, prigioniero repubblicano che sta scontando una pena di 12 anni nel carcere di Maghaberry, ha perso la causa per vedere tutelato il suo diritto di indossare il giglio pasquale (Easter Lilies, ndr) la domenica di Pasqua, quindi per un solo giorno all’anno.
La sua azione legale è stata alimentata anche da un procedimento disciplinare in corso nei suoi confronti , per il rifiuto di rimuovere il giglio indossato la Domenica di Pasqua dello scorso anno.
Gli avvocati di Donaldson hanno ieri affermato che tale divieto aggravia ulteriormente  la già limitata possibilità di espressione politica.
È stato inoltre sottolineato che data la separazione dei prigionieri repubblicani in un blocco della  Maghaberry’s Roe House, non sussiste la minaccia di disordini.
Il ricorso è stato respinto dalla Corte di Appello. Il giudice Higgins ha sottolineato che, mentre i papaveri e i trifogli sono consentiti all’interno del carcere, i gigli pasquali e arancioni  sono stati vietati perché classificati come emblemi del conflitto.

Prisoner seeking lily right loses appeal (Belfast News Letter)
A republican prisoner has lost his appeal against being banned from wearing an Easter lily in Maghaberry Prison.
Christopher Donaldson, who is being held in a separated regime at the prison near Lisburn, was challenging a prohibition on the emblem being worn outside his cell.
His legal action was also fuelled by disciplinary proceedings being taken against him for refusing to remove the lily on Easter Sunday last year.
Lawyers for Donaldson, a Belfast man serving a 12-year sentence, claimed yesterday that the ban interfered with his already restricted scope for political expression.
They stressed that he only wanted to openly wear the lily – a symbol of the 1916 Irish republican Easter Rising – for one day in the year.
It was also emphasised that because Donaldson was being kept with other segregated republican prisoners on Maghaberry’s Roe House block there was no threat of provoking disorder.
But following a failed judicial review application his case was also dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
Lord Justice Higgins pointed out that while poppies and shamrocks are permitted within the prison, Easter and orange lilies have been banned within the general confines because they are classed as conflict emblems.
The judge described them as divisive with the potential to “inflame” those who hold differing views.
“This must be so particularly where the divisions have led to years of violence, even though a period of relative calm has ensued,” he said.