6 June 1997 Edition
Fuascailt call on Blair to release Roisin
Fuascailt, the Irish Political Prisoners Campaign, has called on British Prime Minister Tony Blair to release Roisin McAliskey as soon as possible. The demand was made in a letter handed into Downing Street by Maurice Quinlivan, Fuascailt convener on Sunday, 1 June.
The letter also included calls for an end to the inhuman and degrading conditions to which Irish republican prisoners are subjected to, an end to the use of special secure units (SSUs) and for the transfer and repatriation of Irish prisoners back to Ireland.
There are currently 14 Irish political prisoners on remand in England. They face 23 hours locked in their cells, no association with other prisoners, no visits from family and friends because both prisoner and their family face strip searches and are denied any physical contact due to closed visits.
Maurice Quinlivan said, "many human rights groups including Amnesty International demand that conditions be improved in jails in England or that Irish Political Prisoners be transferred back to Ireland to serve the rest of their sentence in line with international agreement on transfer that Britain has signed. We hope that a new Labour government, no longer relying on Unionists to stay in power can bring new impetus and restore basic human rights into the issue of political prisoners held in jails in England".
The letter also included calls for an end to the inhuman and degrading conditions to which Irish republican prisoners are subjected to, an end to the use of special secure units (SSUs) and for the transfer and repatriation of Irish prisoners back to Ireland.
There are currently 14 Irish political prisoners on remand in England. They face 23 hours locked in their cells, no association with other prisoners, no visits from family and friends because both prisoner and their family face strip searches and are denied any physical contact due to closed visits.
Maurice Quinlivan said, "many human rights groups including Amnesty International demand that conditions be improved in jails in England or that Irish Political Prisoners be transferred back to Ireland to serve the rest of their sentence in line with international agreement on transfer that Britain has signed. We hope that a new Labour government, no longer relying on Unionists to stay in power can bring new impetus and restore basic human rights into the issue of political prisoners held in jails in England".