Read Online State Violence by Raymond Murray - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Raymond Murray
Tags: General, History, Europe, Political Science, Great Britain, Ireland, Political Freedom & Security, Human Rights, IRA, Civil Rights, Politics and government, Northern Ireland, Political Prisoners, british intelligence, collusion, State Violence, paramilitaries, British Security forces, loyalist, Political persecution, 1969-1994
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may have thought out loud but all the time I was praying. One time I thought a whole lot of children had been shot in Drumbreda but I donât know whether I was told that by one of the interrogators or not.
Letter to Jim Fields, Armagh, 1972
Dear Jim,
You have now been imprisoned without trial for 14 months. During that time you suffered heavy interrogation in a military barracks, Armagh RUC station, and Portadown RUC station. You endured the rigours of the condemned prison ship, Maidstone. You have been treated like an animal in a cage in Long Kesh prison camp, a place precisely planned to break its prisoners by prolonged degradation. In Long Kesh you were beaten and injured by the British army on 25 October 1971, and on another occasion when being transferred from one compound to another.
This imprisonment, so terrible because of its injustice and its indefinite length, must weigh heavily on you, a man of nearly 50 years, considering too that you need medical care. As a peacemaker in the Armagh community you are appalled by the viciousness of the procedures employed to degrade men in Long Kesh. Not only the physical degradation causes you to suffer, but also the calumnies about internees of leading ministers of the British crown. Like the thousand or so Catholics who were arrested and detained, your basic liberty was taken from you. You had no just public trial and no proper means of defence â no warrant, no charge, no trial. Why are you being held without trial in Long Kesh prison camp? Was it because you were chairman of the National Graves Association? Would Mr Whitelaw, who reserves to himself the right to inspect each file, declare publicly or show you privately why you are being held away from your wife and family? Like yourself your wife is not in good health; deprived of her husband she has little to live on; she is on her own; she is one of âMr Whitelawâs widowsâ. Your son, Tony, on 3 October 1972 was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment after being found to have 6 rounds of ammunition. The people of Armagh have noted that in the same week a UVF man got the same sentence as your son for being in possession of 3 rifles and 1,163 rounds of ammunition, under suspicious circumstances. Why have you not been allowed to visit your son in Crumlin Road Jail? Why has your request been turned down so often? Why was no reason for the refusal given to you or to the welfare officer? Such permission has been granted to others.
I know that your heart contains no bitterness after having heard of the tortures of others imprisoned without trial. I understand your distress at the recent ill-treatment of the remand prisoners. What possible justification can there be for holding you and the other 211 prisoners detained without trial? Are you hostages? Are you being held for ransom by Mr Whitelaw? Are you prisoners of war? Have you, like privy councillors and ex-ministers of government, threatened to liquidate your neighbours? It appears to the community here in Armagh that you and others, Jim Fields, are the victims of English political expediency. Other Catholic men have spent 12 years of their lives imprisoned without trial. Does Mr Whitelaw with the help of Special Courts intend to do the same with you and your fellow prisoners? Does he really have any idea of what constitutes fair play, equality, and treatment of men in accordance with human Christian dignity? Is it true that Mr Whitelaw intends to keep you in the Long Kesh cages over a second Christmas? The Christmas message of peace, good will, and family unity means little to those implementing the immoral procedures of internment. The ordinary citizen wants a lasting peace, based on justice. The ordinary citizen wants all internees released immediately.
Extract from the broadsheet âWhitelaw violates Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rightsâ.
Visit to Long Kesh Appeal Tribunal
The Detention of Terrorists Order (NI) introduced on 7
Letter to Jim Fields, Armagh, 1972
Dear Jim,
You have now been imprisoned without trial for 14 months. During that time you suffered heavy interrogation in a military barracks, Armagh RUC station, and Portadown RUC station. You endured the rigours of the condemned prison ship, Maidstone. You have been treated like an animal in a cage in Long Kesh prison camp, a place precisely planned to break its prisoners by prolonged degradation. In Long Kesh you were beaten and injured by the British army on 25 October 1971, and on another occasion when being transferred from one compound to another.
This imprisonment, so terrible because of its injustice and its indefinite length, must weigh heavily on you, a man of nearly 50 years, considering too that you need medical care. As a peacemaker in the Armagh community you are appalled by the viciousness of the procedures employed to degrade men in Long Kesh. Not only the physical degradation causes you to suffer, but also the calumnies about internees of leading ministers of the British crown. Like the thousand or so Catholics who were arrested and detained, your basic liberty was taken from you. You had no just public trial and no proper means of defence â no warrant, no charge, no trial. Why are you being held without trial in Long Kesh prison camp? Was it because you were chairman of the National Graves Association? Would Mr Whitelaw, who reserves to himself the right to inspect each file, declare publicly or show you privately why you are being held away from your wife and family? Like yourself your wife is not in good health; deprived of her husband she has little to live on; she is on her own; she is one of âMr Whitelawâs widowsâ. Your son, Tony, on 3 October 1972 was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment after being found to have 6 rounds of ammunition. The people of Armagh have noted that in the same week a UVF man got the same sentence as your son for being in possession of 3 rifles and 1,163 rounds of ammunition, under suspicious circumstances. Why have you not been allowed to visit your son in Crumlin Road Jail? Why has your request been turned down so often? Why was no reason for the refusal given to you or to the welfare officer? Such permission has been granted to others.
I know that your heart contains no bitterness after having heard of the tortures of others imprisoned without trial. I understand your distress at the recent ill-treatment of the remand prisoners. What possible justification can there be for holding you and the other 211 prisoners detained without trial? Are you hostages? Are you being held for ransom by Mr Whitelaw? Are you prisoners of war? Have you, like privy councillors and ex-ministers of government, threatened to liquidate your neighbours? It appears to the community here in Armagh that you and others, Jim Fields, are the victims of English political expediency. Other Catholic men have spent 12 years of their lives imprisoned without trial. Does Mr Whitelaw with the help of Special Courts intend to do the same with you and your fellow prisoners? Does he really have any idea of what constitutes fair play, equality, and treatment of men in accordance with human Christian dignity? Is it true that Mr Whitelaw intends to keep you in the Long Kesh cages over a second Christmas? The Christmas message of peace, good will, and family unity means little to those implementing the immoral procedures of internment. The ordinary citizen wants a lasting peace, based on justice. The ordinary citizen wants all internees released immediately.
Extract from the broadsheet âWhitelaw violates Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rightsâ.
Visit to Long Kesh Appeal Tribunal
The Detention of Terrorists Order (NI) introduced on 7
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