Republican News · Thursday 27 February 1997

Growing urgency about McAliskey

By a Fuaiscailt spokesperson

In London, as elsewhere, there is a growing sense of urgency surrounding the imprisonment of Roisin McAliskey, engendered by the knowledge that her baby will be born in a matter of weeks - and that she is having to contend with the unimaginable stress of knowing that her baby is likely to be taken from her and placed in the care of social services.

A delegation which included two of our members recently accompanied Bernadette McAliskey to the German Embassy in London where they were greeted by an embarrassed official who assured them it is not his government which opposed bail for Roisín, but the British. Germany, he said, is extremely anxious to get the whole matter dealt with as quickly as possible.

But nothing close to a case against Roisín has been presented by the Germans. They also refuse to state inside the court what they claim outside it. If they do not oppose bail, then their counsel should state that at Roisín's next court appearance.

It has been very instructive to many observers here (although completely unsurprising to Irish nationalists) that Britain and Germany - two countries which pride themselves on being advanced democracies - have legal systems which allow them to imprison an individual, without charge, for a seemingly indefinite period of time. What is this practice if not internment by another name?

Meanwhile, Roisín's condition becomes ever more urgent. The Fuascailt pickets at her court appearances are gaining in supporters, volume and press coverage. On 22 February 400 members of the group staged another well-publicised demonstration, this time outside the Lufthansa offices in London, urging potential customers to boycott the airline until Roisín is released and receiving an extremely positive response from the majority of passers-by.

The governor of Holloway Prison was stung into responding to his critics last week via a letter to the Guardian, in which he explained that Roisín's partner has now - after three months - been cleared as an `approved visitor' and that she will not be shackled, as prisoners have been in the past, whilst giving birth. The matter of constant strip searching, the lack of proper healthcare and the threatened removal of her baby after birth was avoided.

The next event in the Fuascailt campaign will be a public meeting in London addressed by Bernadette McAliskey on Friday 7 March, followed by a 24-hour fast outside Holloway Prison, beginning at 12.00 noon on Saturday 8 March. This fast is also in support of all Irish POWs in English jails, whether on remand in Belmarsh prison or serving ferocious tariffs and refused repatriation.

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