McCAFFERTY DECISION “RUBBERSTAMPS LICENCE FOR REPRESSION.”

McCAFFERTY DECISION “RUBBERSTAMPS LICENCE FOR REPRESSION.”

Reacting to the denial of Terry Mc Cafferty’s appeal against an arbitrary and unlawful revocation of his release on license,

Republican Network for Unity (RNU) spokesperson Danny Mc Brearty termed the decision “simply a rubberstamp for internment by licence or a licence to intern, as one more addition to the Crown’s arsenal of repression.”

“The reasons presented by the British for revoking Terry Mc Cafferty’s licence, and sending him back to Maghaberry prison are patently absurd. Republican political prisoners have an honoured tradition of communicating with prisoner’s welfare committees and political activists about the welfare of their families and conditions imposed upon political prisoners. Presumably Terry Mc Cafferty, like other Irish Republicans, was visited by members of such committees. For a British Crown minister, to retroactively outlaw such visits by claiming that these monitored prison visits were sessions used to formulate or plan military attacks under the watchful eyes of the Maghaberry staff is ludicrous.

“In a legitimate legal system aimed at justice rather than repression of those who truly oppose British rule, Terry Mc Cafferty would have been afforded the right to confront witnesses and refute the unfounded claims of Paul Goggins. Instead the British courts have simply rubberstamped fiction penned by a British minister. Internment by fiat and the arbitrary revocation of licence has been added to the crown’s arsenal of repression. The history of British rule is that once introduced, such repressive tactics will be repeated.

“Republicans will not be surprised that the British continue to hype a new political dispensation as a façade for dispensing more injustice and repression .Will those from the wider nationalist and Republican community, who have taken up seats on DPP boards take up this new issue as a matter of justice, or will their places within a British administration make them silent partners giving the British licence for more repression and injustice?”

Statement ends.