INTERNAMENTO, PASSATO E PRESENTE
Resoconto del meeting organizzato da éirígí sabato 9 Agosto
Erano 150 le persone stipate al Conway Education Centre di Belfast, in occasione del convegno organizzato da éirígí per discutere del passato e del futuro dell’internamento che continua ad essere una piaga dell’Europa Civile.
L’incontro si è snodato attraverso le testimonianze di Ruhal Ahmed, Pádraigín Drinan, Caitríona Duffy e Gerry McDonnell.
Gerry ‘Blute’ McDonnell, attivista repubblicano, ex blanketman, evaso dal Long Kesh nel 1983, un background di 23 anni di carcere, ha cercato di spiegare l’internamento con gli occhi di un prigioniero e i disagi vissuti dalle famiglie degli internati.
Audio della testimonianza di Gerry McDonnell tratto da éirígí
Pádraigín Drinan, avvocato, ha parlato del caso degli “Hooded Men”, ovvero un gruppo di uomini selezionati per le torture all’epoca dell’ntroduzione dell’internamente nelle Sei Contee il padre di Brian Shivers fu uno di loro, ndr). Una mera violazione dei diritti umani.
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Ruhal Ahmed, catturato dall’esercito americano in Afghanistan e rinchiuso a Guantanamo da dove poi è stato rilasciato nel 2004. Era uno dei ‘Tipton Three’, la cui vicenda è stata narrata da Channel 4 nello special ‘Road To Guantanamo‘. Egli dato al meeting la sua testimonianza sugli abusi e sulle violazione dei diritti umani subiti in nome della lotta al terrorismo.
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Infine è intervenuta Caitríona Duffy, figlia di Colin Duffy attualmente detenuto nel carcere di Maghaberry per l’attentato alla base armata di Massereene. Colin Duffy è uno dei primi cittadini irlandesi ad essere stato incarcerato sulla base delle legge che prevede la dentenzione sino a 28 giorni senza accusa e senza processo. Il prominente repubblicano è già stato vittima di errori giudiziari in un paio di occasioni e Caitríona ha raccontato come suo padre sia vittima delle forze di polizia (prima il RUC e poi il PSNI) sin da quando era bambino.
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Meeting in Belfast Recalls Internment Past and Present (éirígí)
Following two successful events in Enniskillen and Dublin marking the thirty-eighth anniversary of the introduction of internment, éirígí Bhéal Feirste held a public meeting to mark the 38th anniversary of internment in Conway Mill in Belfast.
Upwards of 150 people packed into the Conway Education Centre on Sunday [August 9] to hear speakers Ruhal Ahmed, Pádraigín Drinan, Caitríona Duffy and Gerry McDonnell. Chaired by éirígí national vice-chairperson Rab Jackson, the talk was both thought-provoking and emotional.
Gerry ‘Blute’ McDonnell, who gave his account of being interned in the Long Kesh Cages, is a republican activist, a former blanketman, 1983 H-Block escapee and spent a total of 23 years incarcerated. Gerry gave a personal account of the hardship endured by the internees and their families.
Belfast-based lawyer Pádraigín Drinan then spoke about cases of the Hooded Men, whom she represented during their long fight for justice. The Hooded Men were a group of men selected for torture at the time that internment was introduced in the Six Counties in August 1971. She told of this human rights abuse and gave a forthright and moving recollection of that time in Irish history.
Ruhal Ahmed, who travelled from Birmingham to speak at éirígí’s event, is a British resident who was abducted by the US army in Afghanistan and subsequently detained in Guantanamo Bay. Ahmed, who was released in March 2004, spoke passionately about his experiences in US custody and the abuses of civil liberties inherent in the so-called War on Terror. One of the ‘Tipton Three’, whose horrendous experience was documented in Channel 4’s ‘Road to Guantanamo’, Ahmed related to the experiences of Gerry Mc Donnell and the Long Kesh Cages internees.
Finally, Caitríona Duffy from Lurgan spoke about the case of her father, Colin, who was one of the first Irish citizens to be detained under the draconian 28-day detention legislation. Colin has already been the victim of two previous miscarriages of justice. The articulate 18-year-old spoke of the vendetta the RUC/PSNI held against her father since she was a child.
éirígí spokesperson Seán Mac Brádaigh said: “Internment without trial in 1971 left a mark on nationalist communities across the North that lingers to this day. But it is important to remember that internment is not merely an historical event. The British government is still denying people the right to a fair trial, in the Six Counties and elsewhere. 28-day detention is a de facto form of internment.
“On behalf of éirígí I would like to thank the speakers and audience for attending today, especially Ruhal Ahmed who travelled from England to speak at the meeting. éirígí will continue to actively oppose modern day internment without trial and urges others to do likewise.”
The Five Demands 