Republican Political Prisoners, Roe 4, Maghaberry Jail, wish to highlight and condemn the recent politically motivated arrests of 5 Republican Prisoners who were taken from the Republican landings to Antrim barracks on Wednesday 18th March. These men have been questioned and reports sent to the PPS by the PSNI regarding alleged threats made against jailers on the Republican wing.
These arrests are a blatant example of political policing and the State’s efforts to silence political prisoners. The arrests are a choreographed action to lend credence to the Jail administration’s fabrication of threats; which they have used as an excuse for the failure to implement the August 2010 Agreement. The DUP through their Belfast Telegraph rag have continually misconstrued our statements and pushed for PSNI involvement in the repression of RPPs. David Ford and Theresa Villiers have also repeatedly referred to threats on which they have failed to elaborate. Their comments and those of the DUP were clearly designed to lay the ground for political prosecutions.
Prisoners were questioned about Roe 4 statements emanating from the Jail which is clearly a failed effort to scare us from publicising the antics of the Jail Administration. The refusal of Republican prisoners to be broken, our challenges to the Jail regime and the mobilisation of our comrades on the outside are obviously proving to be a challenge to the normalisation narrative. The colossal response from the DUP, NIPS/POA and the PSNI, along with the puppet master engineering of MI5 stands testament to that. We also await the responses of Sinn Féin and the SDLP to this matter given their knowledge of the context of our struggle and the involvement of their new and “Civic Police Force” in propping up the unaccountable repressive Maghaberry regime.
We now issue the following message directly to Theresa Villiers, David Ford, Sue McAllister and Alan Longwell: The new tactic of political prosecution against RPPs will not silence us. Our resolve today is as strong as that of Republican prisoners who resisted criminalisation in the H Blocks, Crumlin Road and Armagh Gaol. We will continue to resist all repressive measures.
Republican Political Prisoners
Roe 4
Maghaberry
20.03.15
107cowgate 