Showing posts with label Britain's. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Irish Blog: BRITAIN'S KU KLUX KLAN : Orange Order Bestiality

Irish Blog: BRITAIN'S KU KLUX KLAN : Orange Order Bestiality:

'via Blog this'

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

MARTIN COREY STILL BRITAIN'S ABU GHRAIB IRISH GUINEAPIG

These forms of Irish internment torture, which Britain was found guilty of torture, by the European Court of Human Rights, became known as the 'Five techniques,' which the British promised not to use again but instead they trained American personnel in their application, for use in places like Abu Ghraib later on.

40 years ago Martin Corey was interned in Long Kesh Concentration Camp, with hundreds of felloW Irishmen from all over British Occupied Ireland. Below is an account of what happened subsequently. Martin was released almost 20 years later, only to be interned again, despite a supposed Peace Process, more than 3 years ago without any reason, charge or trial given to him. A judge ordered his release but was overruled by the non-elected English Viceroyal in Ireland. The British were originally taken by the Irish Government to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and Britain was found guilty of torture. Martin Corey has to go to the European Court again to get a trial as the British won't give him one. The British government is currently considering a withdrawal from the International Human Rights Courts because, they have been found guilty in 3 out of 4 cases of Human Rights Abuse.

"After being hooded I was led to the helicopter and I was thrown bodily into the helicopter. During this exercise my hands and wrists were hurt due to the others handcuffed to me not being pushed equally. (Before being led off to the helicopter, I understand that one of the hooded men, now known to be F. McGuigan, collapsed when the hood was first applied.) On being put into the copter, the handcuffs were removed and were applied to the back of the hood to tighten it around the head. The helicopter took off and a journey which I would estimate to have taken about an hour began. The helicopter than landed at a destination unknown to me and we were taken from the copter and led into a building and eventually into a room where I was made to stand in a search position against a wall. My position was the same as for other men – fully stretched, hands as far apart as humanly possible and feet as far from the wall as possible. Back rigid and head held up. Not allowed to relax any of the joints at all. If any relaxation of limbs – arms, elbow joints, legs, knee joints – someone came along and grabbed the limb in a rough manner and put it back into position again. After being against the wall for a few hours. I was taken away and brought, I was told, to a doctor. Sometime during this period I was taken out of this room, put into a helicopter and flown away. I was always handcuffed and hooded. When the 'copter landed I was put into a lorry, driven a short distance, transferred to a jeep, five-minute journey, put into another 'copter, taken for half-hour journey. End of journey put into a police van, driven short distance, five-ten minutes, beaten about the face and body, transferred to other vehicle. Holding my face, asked why, said that I did not want to be beaten again. Assured that I wouldn't be. Brought into a building, hood removed, shown detention form. Hood replaced, return journey as before

The build-up to this collapse was frequent numbing of the hands which when it happened I closed my fist only to find that my hands were beaten against the wall until I opened my fingers again and put my hands back into position. On the other occasion I tried to rest by leaning my head against the wall but the response to this was my head was 'banged' on the wall and shaken about until I resumed my position. All the time there was the constant whirring noise like a helicopter blades going around. From the sound of this noise I would say that it was played into the room where I was because on the occasions that I was taken from this room even outside the door of the room the noise was noticeably vague almost to be inaudible.

As I have said, I collapsed completely after that long period of time. I was brought round and carried out into the main room again and made resume my position as before against the wall.
There then followed a series of collapses – I could not say how many times I collapsed. Initially my hands and legs were beaten whenever this happened and the insides of my feet were kicked until my ankles were swollen to almost twice their normal size. After a number of these collapsings I was then made sit on the floor, with my knees up to my chest, my head between my knees and my arms folded around my knees. In this position I was swayed backwards and forwards in order I presume to bring my circulation back. Whenever this was done I was put against the wall again in the original position. The noise was insistent, driving mental resistance to its utmost. I thought that I was going mad. This noise was the only noise one heard save the groans of the other people lined up against the wall.

All the time that I was against this wall I got bread and water once and water alone on two other occasions. This was fed to me by the hood being lifted to my nose and bread and water was fed into my mouth in this way. I should emphasize that I was fed, I did not feed myself. The cup of water was put to my mouth and the bread was put into my mouth.

I cannot possibly estimate for what duration I was against this wall and underwent the collapsing experiences and physical torture against this wall, but I would estimate that it must have been at least two full days and nights. During all of the time no sleep was permitted. At the end of the period I must say that I was extremely fatigued both physically and mentally. I was certainly verging on complete mental exhaustion, suffering delusions which were of nightmarish nature.

I was taken out of this room – into another room where my hood was removed and I found myself confronted by two plain-clothes RUC SB men, one of whom was standing beside a table and the other was seated behind it. I was told by these men that I had asked to see them. I do not recollect ever having done so. I told them I did not ask for anyone. They then began to interrogate me. These men did not introduce themselves to me, so I do not know who they were. The hood was removed during this entire interview. These men interrogated me for a couple of hours. I should say that at the start of this interview I imagined that I was talking to my brother. At the end of this interview the hood was put back on again and I was put back into the other room and put against the wall. I asked where I was but I was told that I could not be told.

As I was against the wall this time I was given a beating: kicked about the legs, a knee was stuck in the base of my spine and the hood was jerked back tight on my face, hurting my neck. I collapsed at the end of this beating. I was also punched in the ribs and in the stomach, as well as being nipped. I was brought round after collapsing and put up against the wall again. The nipping and punching on the arms and ribs commenced. At that I shouted Fuck off', and punched one of my assailants. I was then grabbed by a number of people and I was punched, kicked and kneed all over the body, stomach, ribs and back of my head. The hood was pulled tightly around my neck, nearly suffocating me. I was then put back against the wall. After a short time against it I collapsed. I do not know for how long I was out. The next thing that I clearly remember was sitting in this small room with the same two men as before, who again told me that I sent for them. The hood was taken off for this interview as well. This interview lasted only a very short time, a matter of minutes. I was re-hooded and taken out again into another room where I was beaten continuously for a long number of hours. During the beating I was asked questions concerning the IRA, naming various people, and they also asked me about arms dumps. During all of this time I was standing. Due to the beating – mostly about the body and head, not face – I fell unconscious. When I awakened I was lying on a floor and as I was waking I was being punched. During this period of unconsciousness I had a dream where a friend of mine – my fiancee's brother – bought a scrap-yard. Whenever I awoke and found myself being beaten I began to struggle – I kicked one person and punched another. I was then overcome – my hands were put behind my back and I was handcuffed in this position. There was an attempt to handcuff my ankles. I was then carried down a flight of stairs into a further interrogation – by a different person than previously. The hood was taken off. He told me that I had sent for him. I said that I did not but that I had asked for a priest. He told me that I would get no priest there. After a few questions I was re-hooded and led outside and into another room where I was made, hands still handcuffed behind my back, stand facing a wall with the crown of my head leaning against the wall. As I stood there my arms were pulled further back causing my wrists to be cut and torn. I was left alone in this room un-hooded for a few hours. This same SB Branch man came back in but was very gentle in the course of questioning. He would have questioned me for two to three hours. He then left me again alone in the room – this time for about six hours. He returned when it was morning and told me that I was going back in for a few hours. I asked him where and he said, 'to the jail'. He brought me into a washroom and helped me to shave and have a general clean-up. I was then brought to a doctor. I complained to him of dizziness and pain in my right knee. He bandaged it and gave me an examination. Then I was photographed in the nude both front and rear. I was given my clothes back when I got back to the room. I changed and, after about an hour, I was brought now re-hooded to a Land-Rover and then after a short journey of five to ten minutes was put into a 'copter. After about an hour's flying journey we landed. Taken out. I know now that I was landed at the back of the prison (Girdwood). Marched through a hole in a wall. Across a football pitch and then put into a jeep. Driven to a gate – transferred into another police jeep and driven to the prison reception. I asked in the prison reception, where I was weighed etc., what day it was and he told me Tuesday. I said that it couldn't be since I was in Girdwood on Tuesday but he told me that that was a week ago. After going through the formalities of reception I was put into a cell in the basement where I was kept until the following morning when I was transferred to C wing amongst the other detainees. Whilst in the basement I was given a meal – the first substantial food I received in over a week.

European Commission of Human Rights inquiries and findings

The Irish Government, on behalf of the men who had been subject to the five methods, took a case to the European Commission on Human Rights. The Commission stated that it "considered the combined use of the five methods to amount to torture, on the grounds that (1) the intensity of the stress caused by techniques creating sensory deprivation "directly affects the personality physically and mentally"; and "the systematic application of the techniques for the purpose of inducing a person to give information shows a clear resemblance to those methods of systematic torture which have been known over the ages... a modern system of torture falling into the same category as those systems... applied in previous times as a means of obtaining information and confessions" From Wikipaedia

The Guineapigs in the title were fourteen Irish political prisoners on whom the British Army experimented with sensory deprivation torture in 1971. These 'techniques' are now outlawed, following Britain's conviction at the International Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg, but have been exported and used by Britain's allies throughout the world. This book first appeared in 1974, published by Penguin Books in London. It sold out on its first print run and was then abruptly taken off the market following pressure from the British Government.

In Ireland in 1971 there was deliberate and careful use of modern torture techniques, not merely to get information but to perfect the system of Sensory Deprivation for use against civilians. The author, an ex-internee himself spent two years researching the book following his release from Crumlin Road jail where he had been held without charge or trial. In this new edition he is at last able to name the torturers and those responsible for this sordid episode in British Imperial history. No member of the British Army or the Royal Ulster Constabulary has ever been convicted of torture or brutality to prisoners, although the Government has been forced to pay out over $5 million in compensation to torture victims.

This re-issue of 'The Guineapigs' is dedicated to the blanket men in Long Kesh concentration camp and the women political prisoners in Armagh jail. 'Na reabhloidi Abu.'

The Guineapigs

by John McGuffin 1974,

Sunday, April 7, 2013

UN - BRITAIN'S IRISH GUANTANAMO VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL LAW

U.N. rights chief calls for closure of Guantanamo prison

The U.N. human rights chief called on the United States on Friday to close down the Guantanamo prison camp, saying the indefinite imprisonment of many detainees without charge or trial violated international law.

Navi Pillay said the hunger strike being staged by some inmates at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in southeastern Cuba was a "desperate act" but "scarcely surprising".

"We must be clear about this: the United States is in clear breach not just of its own commitments but also of international laws and standards that it is obliged to uphold," the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement.

U.S. President Barack Obama pledged four years ago to close the controversial facility, opened by the Bush administration in January 2002 to hold men captured in counter-terrorism operations after the deadly September 11 attacks on America.

Pillay voiced deep disappointment at the U.S. government's failure to close Guantanamo despite its repeated commitments, but welcomed comments by a White House spokesman last week reiterating the intention to do so while citing congressional legislation as the prime obstacle.

About half of the current 166 detainees have been cleared for transfer either to home countries or third countries for resettlement, Pillay said. "As a first step, those who have been cleared for release must be released," she said.

"FESTERING FOR MORE THAN A DECADE"

"Others reportedly have been designated for further indefinite detention. Some of them have been festering in this detention center for more than a decade," she said.

Guantanamo detainees accused of crimes should be tried in civilian courts, especially as the military commissions "do not meet international fair trial standards" despite improvements since 2009, said Pillay, a former U.N. war crimes judge.

Of the 166 remaining detainees, only nine have been charged or convicted of crimes, according to military records. The 166 detainees are from 23 countries, the Red Cross says.

Forty inmates are currently staging a hunger strike to protest against their indefinite detention, according to a U.S. military spokesman at Guantanamo. Some have lost so much weight that they are being force-fed liquid nutrients through tubes inserted into their noses and down into their stomachs.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has visited Guantanamo regularly since it opened to check on conditions of detention and ensure humane treatment. It is currently carrying out its 93rd visit, expected to last another week.

The ICRC sent a doctor and another delegate to Guantanamo on March 25, a week earlier than planned because of concern about a growing hunger strike among detainees, the humanitarian agency said at the time.

An ICRC team of 13 now there are discussing issues including the hunger strike separately with authorities and in private interviews with inmates, ICRC spokesman Alexis Heeb said.

"Detainees can raise any problem they want to bring to our attention, this can be issues of detention, Koran issues, requests for medical attention," Heeb told Reuters on Friday, referring to media reports about searches of Korans for contraband.

The ICRC has a clear position of being opposed to forced feeding or forced treatment and upholds the principle of leaving the right to detainees to choose his or her fate, he said.

ICRC President Peter Maurer is expected to raise concerns about Guantanamo in talks next week with senior U.S. officials during his three-day visit to Washington, Heeb said.

"We continue to hold detainees under the internationally recognized Law of War and in keeping with the best of our core values, safeguarding and humanely treating all who are in our care and custody, there. Assertions that present some alternate narrative simply do not withstand intellectual rigor," a U.S. Department of Defense spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Todd Breasseale, told Reuters in response to Pillay's statement.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Additional reporting by Jane Sutton in Miami; Editing by Pravin Char and Stephen Powell)

British Tory Government Trashing the Irish Peace Process

international | rights and freedoms | news report

Monday March 25, 2013 13:41

by Brian Clarke - AllVoices

British Government Disinformation on Secret Court Legislation

Tory Minister Ken Clarke is this week accused of lying to parliament, with disinformation to confuse British legislators, a few days ahead of the Tory government's plan, to introduce secret courts, before a backdoor critical vote in the House of Lords, to rubber stamp internment, without a proper trial. Currently with the internment of veteran Irish republicans, Marian Price and Martin Corey, the British have been conducting once again experiments, with Irish guinea pigs and the resulting public reaction , once again, in the backwater police state laboratory, that is British Occupied Ireland.

Secret Courts and Political Internment

Human Rights Campaigners in London, claimed yesterday, that the Tory Minister gave false information, about whether the ancient writ of habeas corpus, will be destroyed by the justice and security bill. Yesterday's accusations against the Tory Minister, come on top of accusations, that the Tory Government since coming to power, have been trashing the Irish peace process. The reintroduction of Internment without trial In British Occupied Ireland, has confirmed for many Irish proponents of the peace process, the 800 year old pedigree of the invading beast, that is 'Perfidious Albion' in Ireland.

Gerry Adams recently claimed that Tory British Prime Cameron, has stepped away from the peace process, since coming into power. (Diplomatic speak for reneging on the Agreement.) He said “Since the election of the Tory/Lib Dem coalition, the British prime minister, has detached himself, from the continuing promotion and development of the peace and political processes,” Adams also said, for anyone paying attention, that the UK government had refused to honour commitments in the Good Friday, Weston Park and St Andrew’s Agreements: that are all part of Irish Peace Process. Adams further mentioned, that the British are reneging on calls for inquiries, into several incidents, including the murder of lawyer Pat Finucane, the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, and the 1971 Ballymurphy Massacre, in which 11 people were killed by British security forces in Belfast.

He said prime minister Cameron had stepped away from commitments given in the peace process, since coming to power and added that the British, need to bring forward a timetable for the implementation of all outstanding aspects of the Peace Process, which includes the need for a Bill of Rights and an Irish Language Act in the North. He tactfully did not mention the obvious consequences of the Tories continuing to trash the Irish "Peace Process.'

Habeas corpus used in Britain since 1305, is regarded as one of the fundamentals of human rights and is used by lawyers, to demand a prisoner be released immediately, from unlawful detention used as a basic safeguard of liberty, in democracies worldwide. Were secret courts, known as "closed material procedures" (CMPs), be allowed to the feudal Tories, human rights campaigners believe, many perfectly innocent people, particularly political prisoners like Marian Price and Martin Corey, will spend the rest of their lives interned, without a proper trial, without knowing why, because of secret evidence, charges and sentences being used against them, deemed too sensitive to allow challenge or public scrutiny.

Just days before a bill that sanctions changes, expanding the use of secret hearings, into the mainstream judicial system, human rights lawyers say, the Tories are using disinformation on CMPs and habeas corpus claims, to confuse legislators and the public. With the new legislation and the privatization of the prison business, Tories and their friends, plan to create a highly lucrative billion pound business to intern indefinitely, cheap labour and any form of political dissent.

Tory Minister Clarke, betrayed himself as a liar, by contradicting himself, when he stated earlier this month, that it would not impact habeas corpus, while later in the same session, he changed his reply, to reading out a note from a Government lawyer, which said the Tory government "can't envisage" a situation where habeas corpus, would conflict with secret courts. However the Tory Cabinet Office itself, has now confirmed, secret courts could be used in habeas corpus claims, in instances, where a "judge has found, that their use, would be in the interests of the fair and effective administration of justice." Lord Wallace, advocate general for Scotland, has confirmed to parliament, that this was a possibility and that a Home Office minister, had confirmed this just last month.

Clarke was obviously on a mission to confuse, when he further told MPs that the issue of habeas corpus and closed material procedures, had "bowled me middle-stump" and that the government "ought to be allowed to go away and consider the matter." Essentially disinformation with a nod and a wink to legislators, compromised by the 'secret services'. Human rights campaigners say, that the Commons has still to be updated, even though the bill reaches its final stage within days.

Clare Algar, director of Reprieve, said: "Ken Clarke has misled parliament over the impact of the secret courts bill. He told the Commons secret courts could not be used in cases where someone's liberty is at stake, yet now his own department has been forced to admit that this claim was wrong. Under the government's plans, it will be possible to use secret courts in habeas corpus claims – the ancient right we all have to demand that we are either given a trial or released from custody.

This bill strikes at the heart of the principle that everyone has the right to a fair trial and that no one, not even the government, is above the law. Given the significance of these changes, it is disgraceful that we are seeing obfuscation and misinformation from ministers, even at this late stage.It is hard to see how anyone can now believe any of the reassurances given by the government on the secret courts bill. MPs and peers must do everything they can to stop these dangerous proposals from wrecking our justice system."

While spokesperson for the Tory Cabinet Office says: "Habeas corpus cases involving national security evidence are extremely rare. Under the bill, a CMP could only be used in such a case where a judge has found, that their use would be in the interests of the fair and effective administration of justice. Even then they could only be used, to hear those pieces of evidence, which that same judge has found are security sensitive."

Gareth Pierce who successfully liberated the Guilford Four and Birmingham Six, overturning previous political convictions, said, "In Britain, Blair bulldozed through parliament a new brand of internment claiming that Britain faced a similar emergency. This resulted in the arrest on 17 December 2001 of 12 foreign nationals living in Britain who were all sent to Belmarsh prison. These men have been locked up indefinitely without trial, never told the accusations against them, never questioned, never spoken to by the police, the detainee's lawyer not permitted to see the evidence against him. Nothing this bad happened during the Irish conflict." Gareth hasn't obviously heard of Long Kesh Concentration Camp, Marian Price or Marian Corey but then she is a busy woman and British censorship is pretty effective.

Gareth Pierce argues, from the perspective of her considerable experience, that miscarriages of justice, such as internment without a proper trial, is in the context of the forty years of war conducted by the British in Occupied Ireland. "Central to the anger and despair that fuelled the conflict, was the realization, that the British courts, would offer neither protection nor justice.This should be always in our minds, as we analyse the experiences of our new suspect community. A constant theme with Gareth Pierce is that justice dies, when the law is co-opted for political purposes.While she says "Justice has been subverted many times in this country for political ends, that seems hard to credit." The Tories in trashing the Irish Peace Process, obviously have no qualms about subverting the course of justice, if the the political internment of Marian Price and Martin Corey are anything to go by.

UK Secret Courts

Friday, October 19, 2012

BRITAIN'S WAR ON MARIAN PRICE

#MarianPrice #freemarianprice

On the same day the Parker report was published on 2 March 1972, the United Kingdom Prime Minister stated in Parliament, that its torture techniques in British Occupied Ireland would not be used ever again in future. The Prime Minister's statement, directives expressly prohibiting the use of the techniques, whether singly or in combination, were then issued to their forces by the Government.

At a hearing before British Courts on 8 February 1977, the British Attorney-General declared that the 'five techniques' would not in any circumstances be reintroduced either collectively or individually.

The Irish Government referred to the Commission of International Human Rights in Strasbourg, cases of persons submitted to the five techniques during interrogation, at the unidentified centre or centres between 11 and 17 August 1971.

In a recent article SPOOKY BIZARRE BRITISH SECRET EXPERIMENTS the details of the torture of Marian Price were covered, which clearly demonstrates the British have broken their promises and undertakings to the international community with regard to their torture. They have also re-introduced internment without trial in various disguise.

The Republic of Ireland v. The United Kingdom

Before the European Court of Human Rights

18 January 1978

The British Government introduced special powers of arrest and detention without trial, which were widely known as internment without trial.The Government of the Republic of Ireland brought an application before the Commission of International Human Rights in Strasbourg (ii) that various interrogation practices--in particular the so-called 'five techniques', which included wall- standing, hooding and deprivation of sleep and food--and other practices to which suspects were subjected amounted to torture and inhuman or degrading treatment contrary to Article 3...The Commission unanimously found that the five techniques did constitute a practice of torture and that other practices amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment

UK complicity in unlawful treatment of detainees 'was institutional'

Former army legal adviser tells annual Baha Mousa memorial lecture how he was gagged by MoD after criticising officials

Richard Norton-Taylor
The Guardian, Thursday 18 October 2012 20.00 BST

Lt Col Nicholas Mercer said he was banned from speaking to journalists during the Baha Mousa court martial. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian

The former chief legal adviser to the army in Iraq has said the UK's complicity in the unlawful treatment of detainees was "institutional" and must be wiped out to prevent future abuses by British troops.

Colonel Nicholas Mercer described how he was gagged by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) after he criticised senior British commanders and MoD officials in the case of Baha Mousa, the Basra hotel worker was died in September 2003 while in the custody of British troops.

Giving the annual Baha Mousa memorial lecture, Mercer said his attempts to set up independent judicial monitoring of the treatment of detainees were blocked by the MoD. Britain's obligations under domestic and international law were routinely ignored, he added.

"Apply the rule of law and this [abuse] will all go away, it is as simple as that", Mercer said. He called on "all public servants, lawyers, professional men and women" to refuse to be part of "this shameful conduct" and end "torture by the state".

Mercer, who is now a Church of England vicar, recalled how in May 2003 – four months before Mousa's death – he drew up an order, known as a 'Frago' in which he referred to "a number of deaths" of individuals in the custody of British soldiers. He stated: "The detained person should be treated with humanity and dignity at all times. They should not be assaulted. They should be provided with water in all cases and food if they are detained for longer. If they need to be restrained then this should only be affected were absolutely necessary and using the minimum force required. Under no circumstances should their faces be covered as this might impair breathing. Medical assistance should be close to hand at all times."

Mercer said no action was taken by UK commanders at the permanent joint headquarters in Northwood, north-west London, in response to his order.

Mercer said that after he gave evidence to the Baha Mousa court martial (where one defendant, a corporal, pleaded guilty, while the others were acquitted for lack of available evidence), he was banned from speaking to any lawyer who was not in the army, and to journalists.

Any speeches he made had to be "checked and expurgated so a 'correct' version could be delivered". He also said he was told by the MoD that he was "not a suitable person" to give lectures on how human rights bound troops on operations abroad.