Mutmaßliche ETA-Leute verhaftet

Madrid - Die baskische Regionalpolizei hat fünf mutmaßliche ETA-Mitglieder verhaftet. Drei von ihnen wurden nach Polizeiangaben vom Dienstag in der baskischen Ortschaft Ondarroa festgenommen, wo bei einem Autobombenanschlag am 21. September 2008 zehn Menschen verletzt wurden. Die Ermittlungen gegen die jetzt verhafteten Personen stehen nach Behördenangaben in Zusammenhang mit diesem Anschlag. Wegen Mitgliedschaft oder anderer Verbindungen zur ETA sind zur Zeit rund 750 Personen in Spanien oder Frankreich inhaftiert. (apn/jW)

Basques announce hunger strike

Jailed members of the Basque separatist group ETA say they are launching a hunger strike to protest Spain's policy of keeping them separated from each other. The so-called Basque Political Prisoners Group announced the strike in a letter sent to Gara, a pro-independence Basque newspaper. They said it started Monday. Around 750 people are serving time in Spanish or French jails over their membership in or links to ETA. Spain's long-standing policy is to keep ETA prisoners spread out in jails around the country as a way to keep them from plotting behind bars. Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Monday the government would not change its policy. ETA has killed more than 825 people since launching its campaign for an independent Basque homeland in the 1960s.

Sri Lanka: Tamil political prisoners stage hunger strike

Hundreds of Tamil political prisoners in Sri Lanka suspended a hunger strike on its eighth day January 14 after the government “promised” to look into their demands.

The hunger strikers are demanding that the government release them or, failing that, allow them to answer any accusations against them in fair and expeditiously organized trials. The prisoners, 774 of them, under detention in prisons in Colombo, Anuradhapura, Jaffna, Batticaloa and Trincomalee, had joined the protest.

President Mahinda Rajapakse pledged to look into the prisoners’ demands within two months. Running as the candidate of the ruling party in the January 26 presidential election, Rajapakse was anxious to defuse the protest for fear that it could provide a focus for the resentment and anger of the Tamil population, which has been subjected to a cruel almost three decades-long war and continuing communal repression.

Rajapakse’s promise commits him and the government to nothing in respect to releasing the detainees or even providing them a means of refuting government claims that they are terrorists.

Apart from those remanded in prisons, the Sri Lankan government has incarcerated tens of thousands of Tamils in detention centres in various parts of the country. These detentions were intensified after the Rajapakse government plunged the country back into all-out war in July 2006.

The prisoners are held under the country’s draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

This law allows the defence ministry secretary to order the detention of a person on suspicion of terrorist activity without charge for eighteen months. Thereafter, detainees have to be produced before a court, but the police working in league with the judiciary can drag out pre-trial proceedings almost interminably, meaning persons can be held for years on the basis of unproven allegations and without any legal recourse. The PTA also allows government prosecutors to use “confessions” from suspects. This constitutes nothing less than an incitement to the Sri Lankan security services—which are notorious for their use of torture—to coerce false confessions and stage frame-ups.

With its communal discrimination and violence, Sri Lanka’s Sinhala elite goaded large numbers of Tamil youth to take up arms against the government. The elite responded with a bloody counterinsurgency war and even more systematic violations of the rights of the Tamil people, including mass and, for all intents and purposes, indefinite detentions without trial.

The government refuses to term the Tamil detainees political prisoners, labelling them, as it does anyone accused of involvement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), “terrorists.” But the government’s failure to prosecute the detainees underscores that the police have no credible evidence against them.

The prisoners who staged the hunger strike claim that their previous appeals have been ignored or, if verbally conceded, have never been acted upon. Last year prisoners staged four hunger strikes to highlight their demands.

A letter issued to the media by 35 prisoners before they embarked on the most recent hunger strike noted, “We, the political prisoners held in remand prison without any inquiry or legal action, are to launch a hunger strike from 6:00 AM on 6 January. We who have been arrested on false charges by the police under PTA and emergency regulations demand immediate release or bail or general amnesty.

“When persons who have been leading members in real militant groups have been given top posts in the government, why should we, who had nothing to do with militancy, be punished on false charges? We have lost our families, been robbed of our education, and now we are left alone without anyone.”

The two Tamil leaders to whom they were referring are former LTTE Eastern Province leaders, V. Muralitharan (otherwise known as Karuna Amman) and Sivanesanthurai Chandrakanthan or Pillayan. Both defected from the LTTE and supported the Sri Lankan military in its war of extermination against the LTTE. As a sop, Karuna was given a cabinet minister post while Pillayan was helped to become the chief minister of the Eastern Province.

One of the prisoners is 52-year-old K. Devadasan. A former State Film Corporation director, he was abducted in April 2008 in Kotahena, a Colombo neighbourhood, by a group of unidentified militia men or security forces who travelled in a white van.

Detained at the New Magazine Prison in Colombo, he launched his hunger strike January 1, a few days earlier than the others, so as to press his demand that authorities release or expeditiously prosecute him.

Abduction of Tamils particularly in Colombo was rampant during the past four years.

Tamils were seized by military personnel, other state agents or pro-government auxiliaries, brutalized, and later turned over to the police for detention. This terror campaign has even been extended to media persons who criticised the government’s actions. Some Sinhala trade unionists have also been abducted, with the government making the spurious charge that they were helping the LTTE.

Shortly before Rajakase promised to look into the issue of the Tamil detainees, Law Minister Milinda Moragoda said a solution would soon be found. But the government continues to insist that they are not political prisoners, but terrorists.

Arumugam Thondaman, a Cabinet minister and the leader of the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), which represents many Tamil plantation workers, told a January 20 press conference in Nuwara Eliya that 24 plantation youth who had been detained under the PTA had previously been released, another 50 would be released that day, and that 28 other prisoners were being sent to so-called rehabilitation centres. (It is not immediately clear if any if these detainees had been involved in the hunger strike.) With the end of the war and growing opposition to the CWC’s imposition of a sell-out contract, Thondaman has felt renewed pressure to intercede on behalf of the detainees.

Many plantation youth were arrested during the decades of the war. Workers accuse the CWC leaders of helping police to arrest these youth by providing lists of alleged LTTE supporters. In reality, these youth had no connections to the LTTE. They were detained so as to intimidate plantation workers and their families who had fought for their rights and opposed the betrayals of the trade unions.

Many thousands of Tamil prisoners are being held in a detention centre at Boossa in southern Sri Lanka, often without the knowledge of their closest relatives. According to a report prepared by the Human Rights Commission (HRC) office in Colombo and sent to the HRC in Jaffna, 800 youths including 50 women who had been either abducted in white vans or arrested by the armed forces in Vanni have been detained in Boossa. Just a few days back, the parents of female undergraduate Rasiah Dwarka, who had been abducted by a white-van gang, were able to trace her to Boossa.

In addition to these detentions, thousands of Tamil youth have been selected for long-term detention from the mass detention camps for Tamil civilians that the government established at the war’s end, particularly in Vavuniya. According to Amnesty International about 12,000 youth—LTTE cadre in the eyes of the government—have been taken into long-term detention. The Red Cross complains however that it has had access only to about 2,000 of these youth. In an attempt to appease the popular anger among Tamils over their treatment, the government has released a few dozens of these youth in recent weeks.

Amnesty International has issued a 10-point human rights agenda, which it is asking the two main presidential candidates of the ruling elite—Rajapakse and former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka—to adhere to. It includes the end of “arbitrary arrest and detention under emergency legislation.”

Republikanische Gefangene fordern ihre Rechte

Stellungnahme des POW Department von Republican Sinn Féin

Die Verwaltung der 26 Counties Süd-Irlands will den Gefangenen der Continuity IRA ihren eigenen Flügel im Hochsicherheitsgefängnis von Portlaoise, Co. Laois, verweigern. Die Republikanischen Gefangenen sind politische Gefangenen und haben daher das Recht auf einen eigenen Flügel. Ihnen diesen zu verweigern. ist ein weiterer Schritt, den irisch-republikanischen Widerstand gegen britische Herrschaft in Irland zu kriminalisieren.

Seit 1917 sind 22 irische Republikaner für die Verteidigung ihrer Rechts auf politischen Status gestorben. In den 1940er Jahren waren die republikanischen Gefangenen in Portlaoise unter den ersten „Blanketmen“ – Gefangene, die aus Protest gegen Gefängnisuniformen sich lediglich in ihre Bettlacken wickelten. Dies war ihr Kampf gegen die Kriminalisierung. In den 1970er Jahren traten republikanischen Gefangenen in Portlaoise in einen 47-tägigen Hungerstreik.

Die republikanischen Gefangenen in Portlaoise verteidigen heute dasselbe Recht auf politischen Status, denn sie sind Teil desselben Kampfes.

Die Gefangenen der Continuity IRA fordern ihr Recht auf einen eigenen Flügel ein. Die Forderung der Gefangenen der Continuity IRA ist einfach. Sie fordern lediglich genauso als politische Gefangene behandelt zu werden, wie es andere Gruppen im Gefängnis auch werden.

Aus Protest gegen die Kriminalisierung der republikanischen Gefangenen wird Republican Sinn Féin am Samstag, 23. Jänner 2010, einen ganztägigen Protest vor dem Gefängnis in Portlaoise abhalten.

REPUBLICAN PRISONERS DEMAND RIGHT TO ORGANISE THEIR OWN LANDING
Statement from the Republican Sinn Féin PoW Department

The denial of a separate landing for the CIRA PoWs in Portlaoise prison is part of a policy to criminalise the continued Irish Republican resistance to British rule in Ireland.

Since 1917, 22 Irish Republicans have died in defence of their right to political status. In the 1940s the Republican Prisoners in Portlaoise were among the first ‘Blanketmen’ in opposition to criminalisation. In the 1970s Republican prisoners endured a 47-day hunger strike.

The Republican prisoners in Portlaoise today are defending the same right to political status because they are part of the same struggle.

The CIRA prisoners demand their right to a separate landing. The CIRA PoWs' demand is simple – they want to continue to be treated as political prisoners - as other groups in the jail are.

"Our struggle goes on, your struggle goes on"

Speech by Josephine Hayden at the 8th International Symposium against Isolation, London, Bolivar Hall, December 19th, 2009. Josephine Hayden is General Secretary of Republican Sinn Féin and former Republican Prisoner of War.

My name is Josephine Hayden and I am general Secretary of Republican Sinn Féin, Ireland. I am an ex-POW living in Dublin, Ireland. I am here with other representatives of Republican Sinn Féin Ireland, including our newly elected President Des Dalton, our foreign affairs bureau representative Dieter Blumenfeld from Austria and our comrades from London and Scotland and of course Ireland.

We bring you greetings from our Organisation and from the Continuity IRA POWs in Maghaberry Jail in the Occupied Six Counties and Portlaoise Jail in Co Laois in the 26 Counties. We send greetings to political prisoners all over the world, and I must mention the one Irishman held in Lithuania.

For those of you that don’t know, Ireland was occupied for centuries by Britain and finally partitioned by Britain in 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The 1920 Act created two jurisdictions in Ireland, six of the nine counties of Ireland were held under British rule and are still occupied and governed from London, and the 26 Counties, known as the Free State – how free it is, is debatable – or as it is commonly called the Republic of Ireland.

Though declared a Republic in 1916 by Padraig Pearse, James Connolly etc Ireland is not a Republic. We are still fighting for that Republic and that is why we still have political prisoners in Ireland today.

Ireland is just like all countries fighting for a socialist government where revolutionary organisations have to take on the state as well as outside interference and occupation. The same struggle is being waged by socialist revolutionaries in countries such as Cuba, Palestine, Venezuela, Iraq, the Basque Country and of course Turkey (to name but a few) as is being waged in Ireland. We here today share a common bond, a struggle against imperialism. James Connolly wrote that “an injury to one is an injury to all” so we must show solidarity with each other and stand together. Isolation [as the conference is so aptly named] is a powerful tool of the oppressor. We must not let the oppressor have that tool. We must wrest it back from him and use it to become stronger. Isolation can led to despair and we all know where despair leads to. This we cannot let happen.

The life of a revolutionary is not an easy one. Without doubt it brings more pain than gain in many cases but the effort must be made and the work put in. A belief in what you are doing and the ability to take what’s thrown at you by the state and the media is a must! In our type of work it is inevitable that we end up with political prisoners and political prisoners by their very nature are perceived by states as a threat to the status quo of the ruling class. So naturally all act of resistance or dissent against the state will be dealt with in a savage manner. We see it all the time on the TV and internet – we now have instant pictures of state repression as it is happening, except for the like of China, Russia and a few other places who allow no access to outside media. (The media are often more sympathetic to other countries rather than their own – if its far away enough it can be respectably called ‘resistance’)

Shoot-to-kill policies, long prison sentences, torture of prisoners, intimidation of families, the loss of employment and character assignations are commonplace. For the most part and with very few honourable exceptions, the media – all media - is in the pocket of the state. They allow themselves to be shamefully used to denigrate those fighting against the corruption and brutality of the capitalist systems. They mouth the platitudes of the politicians who try to justify draconian laws passed to allegedly “fight terrorism” and blacklist as many people as possible. The USA id particularly good at that but the British are not far behind them.

Ireland has suffered under the British for centuries. When the Irish Republican Army (IRA) decide to take on the British state in the Occupied Six Counties (in the north-east of the country) in the late 1960s/early 1970s they were but a handful of men with a handful of guns, but with tons of bravery and courage. When the British army arrived in 1971, allegedly to protest the Nationalist population, they were not long about showing their true colours. They turned their guns on the nationalists they were allegedly there to protect from the British backed loyalist Unionists. Brian Faulkner introduced a new law giving the authorities the power to indefinitely detain “suspected terrorists” without trial under the Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Act. This of course was used exclusively against the nationalist population and 400 people were detained without trial for varying periods of time, most of whom were totally innocent but whom the bulk of the media labeled “terrorists”.

Since them legislation has been updated to a point where one has almost no automatic rights anymore in any part of Ireland.

During the following years thousand of men and women, and in some cases children, were incarcerated and from this came the hunger strike of 1981 in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh just outside Belfast in Co Antrim. I’m sure everyone here has heard of Bobby Sands who led the second hunger strike against the criminalisation of political prisoners which culminated in his and nine more deaths. Bobby Sands was just one of the men, and women, took on the might of the British Army, and when we see today the British army in Afghanistan and Iraq, that is the same army that the IRA fought in Ireland. For many years there were up to 50,000 British soldiers in the Occupied Six Counties, a tiny area where there are still 5,000 troops deployed.

The savagery that was meted out to nationalist POWs in particular and to nationalists in general was appalling. (Some books in the hall tell their horrific story). And though some of the media in Ireland and other countries was certainly sympathetic to the hunger strikers, most of them condemned the men, and the women in Armagh jail, roundly. They labeled them terrorists, and said they deserved everything the got and ‘they even deserved to die – after all they were starving themselves to death so really it was their own fault’.

But the men refused to be criminalized and paid a terrible price. And the people were kinder than the media and the British government and the Free State administration. They came out in their thousands in France, Italy, Switzerland and Portugal, Athens, Belgium, Australia, the USA, England, Wales, and of course Ireland. Cuban President (at the time) Fidel Castro paid tribute to Bobby Sands and a memorial stone stands in Cuba to the memory of the men. In Iran a street is names after Bobby Sands, and a member of the Iranian embassy in London attended the funeral, while a telegram was sent from the Islamic Republic of Iran. Such support from the international community was very much appreciated in Ireland, and it showed the international dimension to the Irish struggle for all –Ireland independence.

Unfortunately the lives of 10 men was the price paid on that occasion for political status. How easily it was sold just 17 years later. The Stormont Agreement was signed in April 1998 which ended political status. That was the price paid [by comrades of Bobby Sands] for entry into the sectarian halls of Stormont and the British Establishment, who now implement British rule in Ireland and are paid handsomely to criminalize the current POWs (political prisoners) in Maghaberry Jail outside Belfast.

Republican Sinn Fein supports the Continuity IRA prisoners in Maghaberry and Portlaoise prisons who share our aims and ideals for a 32-County Socialist Republic.

The men in Portlaoise in the 26 Counties (the Free State) have political status to a certain extent now, but are still guarded by the Free State soldiers who are positioned on the roof and around the prison and as is of the case the prison is surrounded by barbed wire. {Limerick prison was surrounded by razor wire} But the conditions now in Portlaoise were hard fought for and many a man died young after a series of hunger strikes there which did secure as I said political status to a certain extent.

Maghaberry however is under British rule and once again are enduring torturous conditions. They are once again demanding free association; an end to controlled movement and the right to organise their own wing. Medical neglect is a problem in both prisons as indeed it is too for Irishmen held in jail in England.

Currently only three prisoners are allowed out of their cells at any one time and they can be on lockdown at the whim of the governor, as they were recently (second week in November) for four days without fresh food or water, personal or legal visits, mail or phone contact.

Many released political prisoners are denied entry to countries like the USA and Canada where they are on a blacklist. Republican Sinn Féin is a banned organisation in the USA. We even had people banned from entering England and indeed part of their own country – the occupied six counties!

We have special non-jury courts where the word of a superintendent of the Gardaa Siochána (police) is enough to get you sentenced when charged under The Offences Against the State Act. This Act has been updated and expanded over the years as many other new draconian laws are enacted. The police are now allowed to enter your home and place of work to plant surveillance equipment and the information gathered can be used in court.

Our struggle goes on, your struggle goes on, we resist the normalization of the unnatural, we resist the criminalisation of our political prisoners and we resist the isolation of political prisoners.

But in particular more must be done by all of us to fight against the jailing of children, the scandal of child prisoners has never been adequately addressed and it is an area we must become more aware of and do something about.

I will finish with the same quote I spoke last year from a friend:

“By their stance against tyranny the political prisoners assert the humanity of the oppressed. By our active support for them we elevate ourselves and the world above inhumanity”.

Für die politischen Gefangenen

Zehntausende Demonstranten in Bilbo

Von Ingo Niebel, Bilbo

Bilbo. »Die baskischen Gefangenen nach Hause« forderten am Samstag in Bilbo (Bilbao) Zehntausende Menschen, darunter viele Angehörige der insgesamt 762 in Frankreich und Spanien inhaftierten Baskinnen und Basken (Foto). Die Veranstalter zählten 44000 Teilnehmer. Aufgerufen zum Protest hatte ein breites Bündnis von Parteien und Gewerkschaften des Baskenlandes, nachdem die Madrider Justiz der Gefangenenhilforganisation Etxerat (Nach Hause) die Demonstration verboten hatte. Dieses geschah auf Antrag der rechten Nichtregierungsorganisation »Dignidad y Justicia« (Würde und Gerechtigkeit), eine Vereinigung von Opfern der Untergrundorganisation ETA (Baskenland und Freiheit). Sie hatte geklagt, weil bei der Demonstration von 40000 Menschen vor einem Jahr Fotos verurteilter ETA-Aktivisten gezeigt wurden.

Die richterliche Genehmigung für die diesjährige Manifestation erreichte die Organisatoren erst wenige Minuten vor Beginn des Protestmarsches, als sich bereits Tausende zusammengefunden hatten. Die neuen Anmelder übernahmen das Motto der verbotenen Demo und übergaben demonstrativ die Führung und die Abschlußveranstaltung an Etxerat. Fotos von gefangenen durften erstmals nicht mitgeführt werden.

Die Angehörigen der politischen Gefangenen müssen weite Distanzen zurücklegen, um ihre Familienmitglieder für – in der Regel – lediglich 45 Minuten besuchen zu können. Nach spanischem Recht müßten die Häftlinge heimatnah inhaftiert sein, aber die Politik ignoriert das. Neuerdings müssen sich die Angehörigen auch erniedrigenden Durchsuchungen unterziehen. Dagegen wehrt sich derzeit das Kollektiv der politischen Gefangenen, indem es auf die Besuche verzichtet.

Die Repression traf zuletzt auch ehemalige Gefangene wie Patxi Gómez, der im April zunächst nach 20 Jahren Haft freikam. Nun entschied das Oberste Gericht nachträglich, seine Strafe um zehn Jahre zu verlängern. Die Willkür trifft auch schwerkranke Häftlinge. Manche werden trotz gesetzlicher Regelungen nicht entlassen.

aus: Junge Welt, 04.01.2010 / Ausland / Seite 7

Draft resolution - 8th International Symposium against Isolation

We came together, people from many countries all over the world, to inform us, share experiences, discuss and decide upon common activities and projects against isolation. The discussion was divided into three different subjects:

a) POLITICAL PRISONERS AND ISOLATION PRACTICS

Political prisoners are part of the social, cultural and political struggle. In order to keep their struggle and will power in being, we need to combine their struggle with our solidarity outside the prisons. Isolation policies aim to completely deprive them of social, cultural and political development. In this way the system intends to create individuals without free thoughts and free will and to completely withhold them from political life. Therefore it is highly important to keep continuous communication with them. The worldwide prison system, whether serving as industrial complexes or as places of intimidation and isolation, has expanded and developed very quickly in recent years. Political prisoners in particular are subjected to systematic isolation regimes and their rights are severely violated. There are hundreds of examples throughout the globe. These violations include medical neglect, partial or complete restriction of communication with the outside world, as well as physical abuse or torture.

b) ANTI-TERROR LAWS AND CRIMINALIZATION OF POLITICAL ACTIVISM

Anti-terror laws and blacklists continue in force, with organisations and individuals proscribed as "terrorist". Anti-terror laws especially in connection with blacklists after 9/11. While in some countries such laws were already in existence before that, other countries followed suit. At this moment there are several trials running in European countries on the basis of these restrictive laws. The real aim of these trials is to silence opposition. While these laws are in force in trials, they remove jurisdictional rights and are used as a political instrument to intimidate and isolate organised voices against the system. The detainees are kept under strict isolation regimes through restrictions on their communication rights with the outside world.

Political and social movements are more and more faced with political cases against their activists. Democratic lawyers and their institutions are confronted with serious problems regarding the defence of their clients. Today, many political trials within European countries are based on increasing data exchange among international secret services, especially from countries with poor human rights status (e.g. Turkey, Colombia, Israel) For this and other reasons, there is a need for stronger cooperation and exchange between human rights networks of civil liberties and engaged lawyers in different countries.

c) EMBARGO, OCCUPATION, MILITARY INVASIONS AND COUPS

As an imperial power, the USA claims full hegemony throughout the world and uses politics of sanctions and intimidation towards countries who do not accept the "Strategy for a New American Century", which aims at the enforcement of US-hegemony upon the whole world (as already intended in the "Monroe doctrine"), including the means of arms. This plan was presented to the public as "US National Security Strategy". After the September 11 attacks, the "War against Terrorism" was specified with the words of G. W. Bush: "Either you are with us or you are an enemy". As consequence "black lists against terrorist countries, organisations and individuals" were generated and countries were stigmatized as members within the "axes of evil".

The occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan creates daily human disasters. Turkey is the center of this imperialist Middle East project. The US base of Incirlik/Turkey is extensively used by US- and allied warplanes, carrying their deadly loads, which already caused and still cause the death of ten thousands of civilians. Any protest against the USA is silenced and persecuted by the authorities of Turkey, thus dismanteling their ambiguous policy.

Cuba is facing a blockade imposed by the US government for already 47 years. Today the US government is almost standing alone in the world with its blockade on Cuba. In the last UN General Assembly only three countries voted for the blockade, which were the USA itself, Israel and Palau. The US embargo on Cuba causes shortages of food, medicine and other important supplies for eleven million people. The embargo is an immoral policy that uses hunger and disease as political weapons. Not to speak of hundreds of counter-attacks and acts of sabotage against the country which have already cost many lives.

The Palestinian people must be granted their right to resist occupation and to fight for their sovereignty. Freedom and safety for the people living on the territory can only be possible by the end of occupation and embargo, the surrounding and settlement must stop. US support to Israel, providing it with logistics and war equipment, should be rejected and the US-veto against any sanction of Israel's war crimes against the Palestinian people by the UN Security Council, must be strongly condemned. The basic needs of Palestinian people, especially in Gaza, first of all medical stuff, food and construction material to rebuild their houses, must be guaranteed and considered to be a fundamental human right.

Venezuela's people has voted for a change towards participatory democracy. Its president Hugo Chavez Frias also initiated the ALBA project, which was developed as a counter-concept to the US- dominated free trade treaties (e.g. ALCA, NAFTA, etc.). This Bolivarian process, which is opposed to the oligarchic and neo-liberal powers, has been targeted since then by the US administration.

One of the 9 ALBA member countries is Honduras. Its elected president Manuel Zelaya was toppled by a military coup and illegally deported from his country. The imperialist forces thus reacted against his engagement for the Bolivarian process in favor of democratic and social reforms. From that moment on, the people of Honduras is faced with constantly increasing repression, including assassinations, torture, kidnappings, mass arrests and elimination of free media.

The participants of the 8th International Symposium against Isolation therefore agreed on the following demands:

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION:
* Organize regular semestral meetings to keep alive solidarity and communication through direct contact and to decide upon common projects and campaigns.
* Establish common communication mediums (e.g. magazine, website, bulletin, web conferences, weblogs, etc.), including a feed-back mechanism about the activities of the participating organisations.
* Make use of political culture as a mean of information by organizing international festivals and youth camps.

POLITICAL PRISONERS CAMPAIGNS:
* Develop common letter-writing campaigns for the political prisoners and POWs
* List and constantly update names and addresses of political prisoners and distribute them via communication portals
* Organize common actions throughout the world according to specific needs of organisations in solidarity ie, protest, delegations, lobbying etc
* Join activities through global action days in solidarity with political prisoners (e.g. March 18, April 17, December 19-22)
* List the names of seriously ill political prisoners around the world, thus following the campaign for ill prisoners in Turkey (with the exemplary success to free Guler Zere).
* Organize people's tribunals against the responsible officials in charge of prison isolation and torture.
* Assist the efforts of associations of prisoner's families to unite in an international network.

CRIMINALISATION AND POLITICAL TRIALS
* Prepare a report about the situation and outcomes of the different trials based on the anti-terror laws.
* Send delegates for trial observation and denounce arbitrary practices taken during these trials.

EMBARGO, OCCUPATION AGAINST COUNTRIES
* Exchange information on the situation and reality of these countries and send fact finding delegations.
* Support activities of people's resistance against oppression and occupation by joining solidarity networks.

We, the participants of the 8th International Symposium against Isolation, furthermore declare our solidarity with the struggle of peoples against any kind of oppression and occupation, in particular with the political prisoners, giving them our voice when they are isolated and silenced.

We also consider it as part of the isolation policy, that many of the invited delegates from Turkey, Netherlands/Iraq and Lebanon were prevented from joining the symposium because their visa applications were refused or remained without respond.

London, 20th December 2009

Some of the participants of the 8th International Symposium against Isolation:
Kit Aastrup, Oproer (Rebellion), Denmark
Ashanti (Michael) Alston, spokes person of the National Jericho Movement and former BPP/BLA political prisoner, USA
Paulette Dauteuil, NYC Jericho, USA
Naji Mujahid/William Fenwick, Jericho DC, USA
Dr. Mariam Abu-Daqa, Palestinian Developmental Women Studies Association (PDWSA), Palestine
Hassan Mahmoud, lawyer of Palestinian political prisoner Ahmad Sa’adat, Palestine
Iratxe Urizar, lawyer and member of Behatokia, Basque Country
Edurne Iriondo, lawyer and member of Behatokia, Basque Country
Representatives from Venezuela and Cuba
National Front of Popular Resistance, Honduras
Senza Censura, Italy
Latife Adiguzel, Anatolian Federation, Germany
Rote Hilfe (Red Aid); Hamburg, Germany
Luk Vervaet, CLEA (Committee for the Freedom of Expression and Association), Belgium
Des Dalton, President of Republican Sinn Fein, Ireland
Josephine Hayden, Secretary Republican Sinn Féin, Ireland
Dermot Douglas, Republican Sinn Féin, Ireland
Dieter Blumenfeld, Republican Sinn Féin, Austria
Republican Sinn Féin Glasgow, Scottland
Republican Sinn Féin London, England
Les Lewidow, CAMPACC, England
Perico Rodriguez, Counsellor at Medical Foundation, England
Helen Bamber, Helen Bamber Foundation, England
Dr. SweeChai Ang, England
David Enright, barrister, Howe & Co Solicitors, England
Daniel McCluskey, solicitor, Howe & Co Solicitors, England
Pavlos Antonopulos, ADEDY, Greece
Ahmet Kulaksiz, member of TAYAD (Solidarity Association of Prisoner's Families), Turkey
Sandra Bakutz, Anatolian Federation, Austria
Frederico Mahrer, ALBA Latin American Network, Austria

Unterstützt die irischen, republikanischen Gefangenen zu Weihnachten!

Der Monat Dezember ist in Irland traditionell der Monat für die politischen Gefangenen.

In der Vorweihnachtszeit versuchen die Unterstützerinnen und Unterstützer der Gefangenen, die Situation in den Gefängnissen verstärkt aufzuzeigen.

Vor allem in der Zeit vor Weihnachten, ist es für die Gefangenen und ihre Familien besonders schwer, getrennt voneinander zu sein. Für viele Familienangehörige sind die Anreisekosten zu den Gefängnissen besonders hoch und viele können sich diese nicht leisten.

Republican Sinn Fein versucht daher vor allem im Gefangenen-Monat Dezember Geld für die Gefangenen und ihre Familien zu sammeln.

Mit dem gesammelten Geld werden Geschenke für die Gefangenen gekauft, Anreisekosten für Partnerinnen und Kinder zu den Gefängnissen bezahlt oder finanziell bedürftigen Familien der Gefangenen geholfen.

In den letzten Wochen hat Republican Sinn Féin Kundgebungen in ganz Irland und auch in Schottland und England organisiert.

Jeden Samstag im Dezember veranstaltet RSF Kundgebungen entlang der Falls Road in Belfast. Am 5. September gab es eine Kundgebung vor dem GPO in Dublin. Gestern, am 12. Dezember gab es eine Kundgebung in Mullincar, Co. Westmeath. In den letzten Wochen veranstaltete RSF außerdem Kundgebungen vor dem Gefängnis in Maghaberry und in Kilkenny.

Liederabende wurden mehrmals in Roscommon, Dumbarton, Glasgow, Dublin und London organisiert. Das eingenommene Geld kommt ebenso der Gefangenenhilfsorganisation Cabhair zu.

In den nächsten Tagen und Wochen werden Kundgebungen in Dublin, Kildare, Enniscorthy und Waterford organisiert.

Auch in Nordamerika werden von den Unterstützerinnen und Unterstützern des National Irish Freedom Committee Spenden für Irlands Gefangene und ihre Familien gesammelt.

Am Wochenende des 19. und 20. Dezember werden Mitglieder von RSF und ehemalige politische Gefangene aus Irland an der jährlichen Konferenz für politische Gefangene in London teilnehmen.


Wir rufen alle Leserinnen und Leser, Unterstützerinnen und Unterstützer auf, gerade in der Vorweihnachtszeit an die republikanischen Gefangenen und ihre Familien zu denken und Spenden an Cahbair zu senden.

Alle Spenden werden an die irische Gefangenenhilfsorganisation Cabhair weitergeleitet. Nähere Informationen zu Cabhair finden sich unter folgendem Link: http://rsf-europe.blogspot.com/2009/12/cabhair-ist-eine-hilfsorganisation-die.html

Spenden können an folgendes Konto überwiesen werden:

Name: IREM
Kontonummer: 1071813503
Bank Code: 390 500 00
Sparkasse Aachen

IBAN: DE50 3905 0000 1071 8135 03
BIC: AACSDE33

Verwendungszweck: POW

Danke für eure Unterstützung!

Cabhair

Fonds für irisch-republikanische Gefangene und ihre Angehörigen

Cabhair ist eine Hilfsorganisation, die ausschließlich von Spenden lebt. Der Name ist irisch und bedeutet: „Hilfe“ Sie wurde Anfang 1987 im Gefolge der Spaltung der Republikanischen Bewegung in einen revolutionären und reformistischen Teil gegründet. Ziel ist jenen zu helfen, die aufgrund „ihrer republikanischen Aktivitäten verfolgt werden“.

Unverzüglich nach dem Ard-Fheis von Sinn Féin im Jahr 1986, als die Führung der Provisionals um Gerry Adams den republikanischen Weg verließen, erklärte eine große Zahl von irischen politischen Gefangenen in England und Irland, sowohl in den südlichen 26, als auch in den besetzten 6 Counties, die reformistische Politik der Provisionals nicht zu unterstützen.

Um diesen Gefangenen zu helfen und sie finanziell zu unterstützen wurde Cabhair gegründet. Gefangene wurden nach dem Ende ihrer Haft entlassen und immer neue mussten in die Gefängnisse. Doch nie seit der Gründung von Cabhair 1987 wurden keine Gefangenen von der Organisation unterstützt. Denn solange es die britische Herrschaft in Irland gibt, solange wird es auch einen Teil der irischen Bevölkerung geben, die sich dieser Besatzung widersetzt – und daher wird es auch leider bis zum Ende des britischen Imperialismus politische Gefangene geben.

Cabhair unterstützt derzeit republikanische Gefangenen in den Hochsicherheitsgefängnissen Portlaoise in den 26 Counties und Maghaberry in den 6 besetzten Counties.

Spenden können an folgende Adressen gesandt werden:

Cabhair – Irish Republican Prisoneers Dependants Fund
223 Parnel Street
Dublin 1
Ireland

Spenden an RSF Deutschland/Österreich werden an Cabhair weitergeleitet:

Republican Sinn Féin
Stiftgasse 8
1070 Wien
Österreich

Cabhair - Irish Republican Prisoners Dependants Fund

Cabhair is a charitable organisation, solely dependant on public subscriptions. It was established in early 1987, following the revolutionary / reformist split in the Republican Movement, for "the relief of cases of distress arising out of republican activity".

Immediately following the Ard-Fheis of Sinn Féin in 1986 when the Provisionals departed from the Republican road a number of Irish political prisoners in England, the Six Counties and the 26 Counties adhered to the revolutionary path and refused to accept support from the Provisionals.

To meet this pressing need Cabhair was formed and has continued with this noble work. Prisoners that they have cared for have been released on completion of sentence and others have gone to prison. At no time since 1987 have no prisoners been in Cabhair’s care. As long as British rule continues in Ireland, Irish people will resist that foreign occupation and, unfortunately, there will be political prisoners.

Cabhair currently supports Republican prisoners in Portlaoise prison in the 26 Counties and Maghaberry prison in the Six Occupied Counties.

Donations can be sent to :

CABHAIR - Irish Republican Prisoners Dependants Fund
223 Parnell Street,
Dublin 1.
Ireland

Or in North America to:

Cumann Na Saoirse Náisiúnta (National Irish Freedom Committee)
email: IRPAS@irishfreedom.net

Die 5 Forderungen der republikanischen Gefangenen

1) Bewegungsfreiheit
2) Beendigung der Kontrollen bei Ausgängen
3) Recht auf jederzeitige Bildung
4) Getrennte Besucherräumlichkeiten
5) Recht auf Organisierung eines eigenen Flügels

Bewegungsfreiheit & Beendigung der Kontrollen bei Ausgängen – Diese zweite Forderungen können zusammengefasst werden. Den irisch-republikanischen Gefangenen, kurz POW’s, wird Bewegungsfreiheit verweigert und zugleich Sicherheitsbedenken vom Gefängnispersonal geäußert, um die POW’s bei jedem Ausgang in ihrem abgetrennten Flügel zu kontrollieren. Das bedeutet in der Praxis, dass es nur jeweils drei Gefangenen erlaubt ist gleichzeitig außerhalb der Zellen zu sein. Das Verhältnis von Gefängniswärtern und Gefangenen ist 4:2 oder 3:1. Dies verunmöglicht es für die POW’s sich frei zu bewegen und führt zu praktischen Problemen. So dürfen die Mahlzeiten nicht in der Kantine verzehrt werden, sondern müssen in ihren Zellen gegessen werden. Auch die Zeit, in der sich Gefangene außerhalb der Zellen aufhalten dürfen wird dadurch enorm beschränkt. An „gute Tagen“ sind die POW’s 21 Stunden in den Zellen eingesperrt, an „schlechten Tagen“ bis zu 23 Stunden. Was gerade „gute“ oder „schlechte Tage“ sind entscheidet das Gefängnisregime.

Bildung – Bildung ist in den getrennten Flügeln grundsätzlich möglich, sie wird aber durch die Bewegungseinschränkungen enorm schwierig. In der geringen Zeit, in der Gefangene aus den Zellen gelassen werden, müssen sie sich zwischen Bildung und Sport entscheiden. Wenn Unterrichtseinheiten auf „schlechte Tage“ fallen, die Gefangenen also 23 Stunden in ihren Zellen eingesperrt sind, wird die eine Stunde Unterricht oft auch fallen gelassen. In den anderen Flügeln, in denen nicht-politische Gefangene untergebracht sind, ist das System weniger restriktiv und sowohl Bildung, als auch Sport, wird ermöglicht.
POW’s werden Tafeln und anderes Unterrichtsmaterial verweigert, was genauso wie die Bewegungseinschränkungen das gegenseitiges bilden erschwert. Auch für das Kunsthandwerk werden den Gefangenen nötige Materialien vorenthalten. In den anderen Flügeln unterliegen die nicht-politischen Gefangenen diesen Einschränkungen nicht, sondern Material und Workshops werden ihnen angeboten.
Die Gefangenen fordern daher a) sich frei bewegen zu können, um sowohl Bildung als auch Sport betreiben zu können, b) ausreichend Unterrichtsmaterial wie Tafeln um sie gegenseitig bilden zu können und c) ausreichend Material für Kunsthandwerk wie Werkzeuge und Holz.

Getrennte Besucherräumlichkeiten – Als es erstmals zur Trennung der Gefangenen kam erklärte die Gefängnisleitung sich bereit, getrennte Besucherräumlichkeiten zu errichten. Nun hat die Leitung erklärt, dass dies nicht mehr auf der Tagesordnung stehen würde. Doch für die Sicherheit der Gefangenen und der Besucherinnen und Besucher sind getrennt Räumlichkeiten zentral. In einem Fall wurden die Besucherinnen und Besucher eines republikanischen POW von den Besuchern eines loyalistischen Gefangenen bis nach Hause in Belfast verfolgt.

Recht auf Organisierung eines eigenen Flügels – Diese Frage wurde bereits des Öfteren mit dem Gefängnispfarrer besprochen. Die Gefängnisleitung ist sich der Notwendigkeit also bewusst, bewegt sich aber keinen Millimeter.

Republican POW’s have formulated five demands and call for these to be addressed immediately

1. FREE ASSOCIATION
2. END TO CONTROLLED MOVEMENT
3. RIGHT TO FULL TIME EDUCATION
4. SEPARATE VISITING FACILITY
5. RIGHT TO ORGANISE OUR OWN WING

Free Association & End to Controlled Movement – These issues can be taken together. POW’s are denied any Free Association and security concerns are cited by the Prison Service for enforcing Controlled Movement on the Segregated wing. This policy means that only three prisoners are allowed out of their cells at any one time and the ratio of prison staff to POW required is 4:2 or 3:1. This obviously prevents any Free Association between POW’s but also causes a number of practical problems. Canteen facilities are not open to POW’s and they are required to eat in their cells, this also restricts the amount of time POW’s can spend out of their cells and results in them being locked in their cells for 21hrs on a ‘good day’ and 23 hrs on a ‘bad day’. The regime operates ‘good day’ – ‘bad day’ on alternate days.

Education – Education is available in the segregated wing but this is hampered by the restrictions on movement. Due to the limited time prisoners are allowed out of their cells they must choose between education and exercise. If a prisoners’ class falls on a ‘bad day’ where 23hr lockup is imposed they forfeit going outside at all for the education class. In ordinary wings of the prison (that house non-political prisoners) the regime is less restricted and prisoners have access to both education and exercise.
- POW’s are denied blackboards/whiteboards etc that would facilitate them teaching each other. This is also prevented by the restrictions on Free Association.
- In terms of handicrafts prisoners are also denied necessary materials. In the other wings of the prison all materials are available and workshops are provided.
Within education the prisoners want a) freedom of movement so that they can engage in both exercise and education, b) Blackboards etc so that they can educate each other, c) full access to handicraft materials including tools and wood etc.

Separate Visiting Facility – When segregation was first introduced the Prison Service agreed to build separate accommodation as a visiting facility for segregated prisoners. The head of the prison service has said that this is no longer on the agenda.
For the safety of both visitors and POW’s separate facilities are needed. In one case, a visitor to a Republican POW was followed home to Belfast by visitors to a Loyalist prisoner.
In a sinister move the Prison Service have recently blamed Segregated prisoners for the cramped visiting facilities that now exist for non-political prisoners because part of that visiting accommodation is being used at present to facilitate separate visits for Segregated prisoners.

Right to organise wing – Last year POW’s discussed this with the priest in the gaol. The prison service were aware that this would become necessary but are not moving on this issue.