The
Irish Freedom Committee extends our fraternal greetings
to The Jericho Movement and to political prisoners
around the world today, the first International
Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners and Prisoners
of War.
We
extend our heartfelt greetings to nearly 100 Irish
Republican political prisoners currently interned
in Irish and British jails; to their families and
loved ones; and to the activists and supporters
on the outside working on their behalf, who suffer
continuous harassment, police abuse, and death threats
for their work.
Irish
Republican Political Prisoners are among the longest-sentenced
political prisoners in the world, with many serving
20- and 30-year sentences. Irish Republicans are
routinely sentenced on the basis of the sole, uncorroborated
opinion of a senior police officer. Evidence tampering
is rife, and the in the military-style, no-jury
courts where they are sentenced; justice is a stranger.
Conditions under which our political prisoners are
held are among the worst in Europe, with many incidences
of severe medical neglect; including in one recent
case the near-amputation of a young prisoner's leg
in a British jail, due to lack of basic remedial
health care; and in another case, the prolonged
death of a 48 year old prisoner, due to gross medical
neglect in an Irish jail.
As
Irish Republicans, we share a common cause with
many resistance movements. We share a common cause
in the fight for the restoration of our sovereignty,
our freedoms, and our basic human rights and civil
liberties. We share a common belief that it is systems,
and not peoples or races, which are the sources
of our repression. We share a common duty to our
political prisoners, who have sacrificed their freedoms
for their political beliefs; and to their families
and loved ones, who must pay the greatest price.
As
Irish Republicans, we also share a common cause
with other resistance movements in the repressive
methods used to silence us. We share the common
burden of black propaganda, both from repressive
governments and from co-opted former revolutionaries.
We share the burden of extreme and draconian sentences
meted out to our arrested activists. We share the
plight of isolation, both in the tactics of imprisonment
inside the jails, and on the outside, with COINTELPRO
style attacks against us.
Today,
the first International Day of Solidarity with Political
Prisoners and Prisoners of War, we share with you
the common HOPE that our actions today will bring
renewed light to the dark cages where political
prisoners of all nations are kept. We share in the
common cause of unity in struggle. We salute your
efforts, and we share in the belief that Our Day
Will Come - Tiochfaidh Ár Lá!
