Locked-up republicans vow to fight injustice

Two republican prisoners were informed at a hearing on Wednesday that their internment without trial is to continue for at least six more months, while separately a key challenge is being heard at the Supreme Court in London.

After almost two years behind bars, it was indicated that it will be September before files are ready to be served on Brian Carron and Gavin Coyle, meaning they will continue to be held without bail until then.

In a statement, republican prisoners at Maghaberry jail, where the men are being held, said the delay in processing cases against republicans is “part of a broader British strategy” and a human rights violation “and must be exposed as such”.

They said: “Unfortunately, former Republicans would prefer to wine and dine with the commander-in-chief of the British Crown forces rather than highlight these ongoing injustices being perpetrated against Republican prisoners.”

“Indeed, they support the very forces that beat down their doors and arrest them, the British justice system that interns them, and the screws who lock their doors at night. Rather than engaging with these injustices, constitutional nationalists and so-called human rights activists turn a blind eye and ignore them.

“This is the very objective of Britain’s policy: to keep Irish Republicans out of sight and out of mind. But for as long as a single Republican prisoner remains incarcerated in a British gaol, there will always be those who oppose these futile attempts to lock up Republicans and throw away the keys.”

NUALA PERRY FOR SUPREME COURT

Meanwhile, an elderly republican imprisoned for allegedly collecting information “of use to terrorists” is to take a legal battle to Britain’s highest court.

West Belfast woman Nuala Perry (pictured) is not due to be released from prison until January next year at the earliest.

Ms Perry says manuscript notes found in a search of her home in 2018 were for her legitimate political and journalistic activities. Senior judges in Belfast have previously rejected an appeal against the 68-year-old’s conviction. Her lawyers are now mounting a fresh challenge at the Supreme Court in London this week.

A panel of five justices is hearing arguments on the lawfulness of searches at her house, the interpretation of a defence statement, and how the sentencing regime was applied.

In 2023, Ms Perry received a four-year sentence for having material which the PSNI claimed related to what they described as a “security debrief” by an unidentified republican group.

Prosecutors claimed the papers were from a republican armed group about weapons seized in west Belfast in 2015.

Currently locked up in Hydebank Prison in Belfast, Ms Perry has frequently written on political and security issues. She is a well-known commentator and activist and a member of the Saoradh political party.

She has said the notes had been forwarded and then copied into her own hand without any knowledge that they contained illicit information.

The courts previously refused to accept there was a reasonable excuse for having them, citing her failure to respond to a PSNI interrogation in 2018, and claimed the notes were “journalistically useless”.

A legal challenge to the length of her prison sentence, based on her suffering from multiple sclerosis and other deteriorating health conditions was also shamefully refused in February 2024.

Ms Perry’s case has now been referred to the Supreme Court to consider legal questions of general public importance.

Her lawyer, Gavin Booth of Phoenix Law, welcomed the decision to deal with the case this week.

Mr Booth said: “We have concerns about Ms Perry’s conviction and sentence, our hope is that the Supreme Court will be with us on the questions certified for hearing.”

Urgent Appeal