Thursday, 23 August 2012

Republican prisoners still mistreated

Prison screws stayed as doctors attended Marian Price

THE family of veteran Republican Marian Price claim her human rights were violated after a prison warder remained in a treatment room as she underwent intrusive medical procedures. Marian Price, who has been suffering from pneumonia, was taken for a lung wash and an endoscopy so a camera could be inserted to examine her lungs. Doctors asked prison staff to leave the treatment room in Belfast City Hospital where Price was heavily sedated for the procedure on Friday, August 17.

Her husband Jerry McGlinchey said: “They refused, saying they were under instruction from Hydebank that at least one prison officer stay with her during the medical procedure. “The doctors stated it was unacceptable to have prison staff beside Marian but they were over-ruled. My wife is a seriously ill woman. She is not a security risk. She can hardly walk, let alone run off and escape.”

Marian Price (58) was moved to Belfast City Hospital in June to be treated for severe depression after spending a year in solitary confinement in Maghaberry and Hydebank jails. She developed pneumonia and arthritis and her family say her health is deteriorating rapidly. Jerry McGlinchey claimed that on Friday, for the second consecutive day, his wife was handcuffed by prison staff against medical advice.

”Marian’s wrists are badly swollen from arthritis. The doctors have repeatedly told prison staff not to handcuff her but they insist on doing so.” He claimed that on Thursday July 16 his wife was subjected to “oppressive security” when she went to Musgrave Park Hospital for tests for her arthritis.
“She was double handcuffed as two prison staff and four PSNI officers accompanied her to the examination. When she went to give a urine test, one prison officer actually insisted on going into the toilet with her,” he said. “This is inhuman and degrading treatment. Nobody has to agree with my wife’s politics to see this is wrong.”

British Secretary of State Owen Paterson revoked Marian Price’s licence last year and she has been held in custody ever since. Her lawyers claim he’d no right to do so as she’d been granted a royal pardon when freed from jail in 1980. The government says this pardon has been lost or shredded.

Time to free Martin Corey

MARTIN COREY has spent more than two years in Northern Ireland's Maghaberry Prison, but he still doesn't know why he is there. A Belfast judge ordered him released on unconditional bail on July 9 because he was being held on the basis of secret evidence neither he nor is lawyers had been allowed to see. His family rushed to the prison to bring him home.

But while Corey was sitting in the prison reception area and his family was waiting outside, Owen Paterson, the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, overruled the judge and ordered him re-arrested. Later, two judges confirmed that he can be held at least until a September 28 hearing.

Corey received a life sentence in December 1973, when he was 19 years old, for killing two members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary in an IRA operation. He served 19 years and was released in June 1992. He returned home to Lurgan in County Armagh, where he worked steadily, formed an ongoing relationship and became a highly respected member of the local community.

The police appeared at Corey's door and took him away to prison in the early hours of April 16, 2010, almost 18 years after his release. His younger brother Joe described what happened: “They came to the door at around 6 a.m. There were about 12 of them standing there when I answered the door. They asked for Martin and told me the Secretary of State had revoked his [parole]. They gave no reason for this. There was no struggle. He just got up and walked out with them. They brought him to Maghaberry, where he has been ever since.”

Corey wasn't charged with any crime and wasn't told what, if anything, he was supposed to have done. He was simply informed that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland had revoked his licence (parole, in American terms) because he was a “security risk”. Later, it was claimed that “he was involved with dissident (sic) Republicans”.

-- Sandy Boyer, the co-host of Radio Free Éireann on WBAI in New York City (August 14).

Source: Republican Sinn Fein 23-08-2012

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