Internment does exist and human rights abuses continue happening inside British jails.

If you believe that everything in the North of Ireland has moved on and that policies such as ‘internment without charge or trial’ had been done away with after the signing of the ‘Good Friday agreement’  you would be wrong.

Altho the situation here is nothing like when ‘Operation Demetrius’ was first launched in 1971 policies against political activists mainly Irish Republicans are still employed to this day used by the crown forces and of course MI5 across the 6 counties targeting anyone they may deem a threat.

Stop and Search’s, raiding homes of political activists and basically just disrupting the everyday lives of the community’s political policing is still alive and well in the occupied 6 and it seems that those behind these actions are held accountable to no one.

To outsiders it may look like things have moved on things aren’t the way they used to be and to a large extent this is true it certainly is not as bad as it was even 10 15 years ago in regards to the violence seen. But the same shady forces are at play in among our communities and continue to operate right across the North.

We also now have a new force being introduced here called the ‘National Crime Agency’ they say they are the ‘FBI of the UK’ and will be operating across the north of Ireland thanks to the endorsement by the SDLP, more forces which will be used as a tool against political activists in co ordination with the PSNI/MI5 no doubt.

The scarey thing about all this is no one knows who may be next, most of those of who are subjected to this type of action find themselves being charged and usually sentenced in a Jury-less, three-judge “Diplock”, or Special courts.

And at times the people who are going thru this are held on the direct say so of the British government without hard evidence or without any evidence at all being presented such as in Martin Corey’s case.

Martin Corey spent over 3 years inside a British prison with no charge held against him the only justification for his detention was that there was a dossier of Secret evidence against him. The rights to a fair trial were thrown out the window a long time ago in the North of Ireland and over the last while it has only been confirmed for us once again.

When Martin’s case was brought before the courts again a judge that he should be released as his continued internment was a breach of his human rights. But again the shady forces in the background denied the 63 year old release on the bases of this secret evidence.

There are numerous other cases that provide clear evidence of this policy being employed today. The most recent situation in Maghaberry showed us again the human rights abuses which are carried out systematically on the prisoners which takes place behind closed doors while the media denies such things are even happening those at the end of these action say otherwise.

It should also be noted that all visitations to the Prison have been halted including prisoner legal representatives. There has been reports coming out from the prison claiming that even limps were broken in this latest round of aggression against the Political Prisoners. At this minute no one is is fully aware of the situation inside the Republican wing as contact with the prisoners was impossible due to the halt on visitations etc but there has been word that visitations will take place as normal tomorrow 5th Feb.

On the 31st of Jan 2015 the Republican wing inside Maghaberry prison was put on lock down this was on the back of a recent statement made by Republican Political Prisoners.

In the letter they describe how the prison administration again seeks conflict with the prisoners by further reducing space on the wing the prisoners already had limited space as it was but this further impedes on the prisoners movements.

All regular staff had been replaced with fully equipped search teams. One by one each prisoner was tied up and trailed back to their cells after the prisoners protested against the latest measures to try dis empower and break them.

It does not stop there, steel cages have also been placed on the wing to furthermore degrade and humiliate the Political Prisoners but these tactics will not work and have never worked in breaking the Prisoners spirits in the past.

A few hundred protestors made there way up to the front gates of Maghaberry to show their support for the men behind the wire which no doubt helped lift the spirits of the Political Prisoners in Roe house even more after the escalation which was seen inside the prison as of late.

People who stand and shrug their shoulders at what is happening here need to realize this not only effects Republican activists and other political activists it effects us all. Most of those arrested are arrested under draconian “anti terror” laws which have been rolled out right across the UK and the north of Ireland.

These measures have been cited by Human rights groups across the world Including Amnesty International and the European Court of Human Rights due to the questionable legality of the measures and potential for abuses.

Now due to this new bogy man IS(Islamic State) even more draconian measures are soon to be rolled out in the UK and no doubt will be rolled out here in Ireland also, as i said it’s scarey because at any time people can be lifted from their homes under these measures without having any credible evidence of wrong doing being presented to them. Fact is that it not only effects activists etc it effects the average person to if the establishment deems you a threat then they can simply lock you up and forget about you.