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The Conway Mill on Belfast\u2019s Fall Road was the setting for a very well-attended public meeting on Thursday [November 8] at which \u00e9ir\u00edg\u00ed launched its latest \u2018Know Your Rights\u2019 leaflet.<\/p>\n
As concern grows in communities across the Six Counties about the increasing activities of Britain\u2019s MI5, the party has produced a four-page information and advice leaflet setting out the steps people should take if they find themselves approached by the secretive spying organisation.<\/p>\n
The meeting, chaired by Belfast \u00e9ir\u00edg\u00ed activist M\u00e1ire Drumm, began with a fifteen minute video presentation detailing some of MI5\u2019s methods of operation.<\/p>\n
She then introduced the first of two speakers at the meeting, \u00e9ir\u00edg\u00ed\u2019s r\u00fana\u00ed ginear\u00e1lta, Breand\u00e1n Mac Cionnaith.<\/p>\n
Mac Cionnaith explained that the party had seen an upsurge in people coming forward to report approaches made to them by MI5, approaches which often occurring with the co-operation of the Six County police force.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In the course of his remarks, Mac Cionnaith said that, for several years, constitutional nationalist parties in the Six Counties had peddled the lie that they achieved the following:<\/p>\n
- \n
- No role for MI5 in \u2018civic policing\u2019<\/li>\n
- No PSNI personnel under MI5 control<\/li>\n
- No secondment of PSNI personnel to MI5<\/li>\n
- Annual oversight and reporting mechanisms on MI5\u2019s role<\/li>\n
- A clear firewall established between the PSNI and MI5<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Mac Cionnaith then dissected each of those claims.<\/p>\n
He pointed out that MI5 does not have powers of arrest; does not have powers to question people; does not have powers to search or seize property and is fully dependent upon the PSNI to carry out those operations, arrests, searches and interrogations.<\/p>\n
Constitutional nationalists, he said, put great emphasis on a statement made by the then British prime minister, Tony Blair, in 2007. Blair stated that only PSNI personnel attached to PSNI Headquarters Staff would act in a \u201cin a liaison capacity\u201d< with MI5. Constitutional nationalists seized upon that statement to fool their members and supporters into believing that only a handful of PSNI personnel would be working with MI5. Those politicians, he said, failed to admit that many sections and departments of the PSNI fall under that overarching description of \u201cHeadquarters Staff\u201d and that, at any one time, up to 1,200 of the PSNI personnel attached to Headquarters staff could be acting in a so-called \u2018liaison capacity\u2019 directly with MI5.\n\nMac Cionnaith also said that so-called annual oversight and reporting mechanisms on MI5\u2019s role have been shown to be completely meaningless and worthless. He observed that the appointment of a British peer, Lord Carlile, a supporter both of non-jury courts and the prolonged detention without trial for suspects, to a role in annually reviewing MI5 in the North, was bizarrely hailed as \u201cprogress\u201d by constitutional nationalists at Stormont. He also noted that that Carlile\u2019s annual review of MI5 in the Six Counties is supposed to take place in consultation with the First and deputy First Ministers at Stormont \u2013 thereby directly implicating the north\u2019s largest constitutional nationalist party into providing a fig-leaf for MI5\u2019s activities in the Six Counties.\n\nMac Cionnaith also pointed out that Britain\u2019s former Six County minister, Owen Paterson, had stated in December last year that there were \u201cno difficulties of any significance in the inter-operability between the PSNI and the Security Service... This is a sound working partnership.\u201d\n\nConstitutional nationalist parties, said Mac Cionnaith, had created a smokescreen of propaganda to mislead their community into believing that those parties had achieved major progress on ending the era of political policing which has existed for as long as the Six County state itself. He bluntly described that as \u201ca deceit\u201d.\n\nReferring to the recent controversy regarding the re-hiring of ex-RUC personnel as \u2018agency staff\u2019 by the PSNI, Mac Cionnaith stated, \u201cIt is also noticeable that no mention is ever made of exactly how many ex-RUC personnel are employed by MI5.\n\n\u201cGiven that over 1,000 ex-RUC men were rehired back into the PSNI by the back-door, it is quite conceivable that at least a similar number have entered MI5\u2019s base in Holywood through the front door.\u201d\n\nM\u00e1ire Drumm then introduced the second speaker, P\u00e1draig\u00edn Drinan, the well-known Belfast-based solicitor who, for forty five years, has been to the forefront in campaigns to defend against the erosion of human rights and civil liberties in the Six Counties.\n\nFrom her participation in the Civil Rights movement in the late 1960s, Drinan was involved in representing many of those interned without trial by the British state during the 1970s, and over the course of many years has represented families who lost relatives at the hands of British state death squads. She has also represented many people who have been subjected to harassment and abuse by state forces and recently mounted a legal challenge against stop and search tactics used by the PSNI.\n\nMs Drinan said that, as a solicitor, she welcomed \u00e9ir\u00edg\u00ed\u2019s initiative in publishing the \u2018know your rights\u2019 leaflets. She described the latest publication on MI5 as \u201ca necessity for many people\u201d and added \u201cthat after all these years of repressive legislation it was remarkable how few people are actually aware of what their rights\u201d.\n\nMs Drinan said, \u201cThe decision to make this information available is a very welcome and timely step.\u201d\n\nMs Drinan continued, \u201cAnyone approached by MI5 personnel, should contact a solicitor and let the solicitor act on their behalf. The goal of MI5 is to gather intelligence on a person\u2019s neighbours, friends and even on members of that person\u2019s family. They will try their hardest to extract any information, no matter how innocuous that may appear, from those whom they approach with each meeting.\n\n\u201cAnything they may offer, in terms of monetary incentives\/jobs, is solely for their own benefit and not for the benefit of the person approached \u2013 and it is worth remembering that.\n\n\u201cNo-one approached by MI5 should give away any personal details about themselves or anyone else, however harmless that information might seem.\n\n\u201cNo-one is under any obligation to speak with MI5 no matter where or how they are approached. You can ignore them and you can walk away from them.\u201d\n\nShe stressed the importance for everyone to report all approaches made by MI5 in order to protect their rights and civil liberties.\n\nSeveral hundred copies of the new leaflet were readily snapped up by those attending the public meeting.\n\nThe text of this leaflet can be accessed at:-\n\nhttp:\/\/www.eirigi.org\/latest\/latest101112.html<\/a><\/p>\n
EIRIGI SLAM ARREST AND DETENTION OF NEWRY MEMBER AS POLITICAL POLICING<\/h2>\n
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Stephen Murney detained at Maghaberry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The socialist republican party \u00e9ir\u00edg\u00ed has slammed the arrest and detention of one of their members in Newry. The party\u2019s general secretary, Breand\u00e1n Mac Cionnaith, described the arrest which took place yesterday (Monday) as yet further evidence of political policing by the PSNI.<\/p>\n
Mac Cionnaith said, \u201cIn September last year, Stephen Murney was arrested by the PSNI during a series of raids on homes in the Derrybeg area of Newry. At the time, Stephen had been present during the raids to provide solidarity and advice to those affected by the raids. PSNI members took exception to that and arrested him, also assaulting Stephen in front of many witnesses. He was later spuriously charged with assaulting those who had assaulted him.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIn April of this year, although Stephen contested the charges against him, a court accepted the extremely flimsy prosecution evidence even though PSNI members had clearly contradicted each other throughout the hearing. The court fined Stephen \u00a3600.<\/p>\n
\u201cStephen made it clear at that time that he would not be paying the fine as he viewed the court\u2019s decision as wrong and unjust.<\/p>\n
\u201cYesterday, members of the PSNI arrested Stephen in Newry and took him directly to Maghaberry prison where he is currently being held.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStephen Murney, along with other party members in Newry, has been extremely active in raising the party\u2019s profile in that area. As the local spokesperson for \u00e9ir\u00edg\u00ed, Stephen has publicly highlighted many issues of concern to the local community, not least of which has been the clear agenda of political policing being pursued by the PSNI in Newry and surrounding areas. Stephen has highlighted cases where both the PSNI and MI5 sought to recruit local people as spies and informers.\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Mac Cionnaith continued, <\/p>\n
\n\u201cStephen\u2019s arrest and imprisonment is nothing less than a clear attempt to deter him from pursuing legitimate political activities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the PSNI and courts believe that they can deter activists such as Stephen Murney from engaging in normal political activities, which is what Stephen was doing at the time of his original arrest, they are going to be disappointed.\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n