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Veteran Civil Rights Campaigner Oliver Kearney Fights for Bail for his Son

December 9, 2002 |

The following appeal is in regard to the plight of Ciaran Kearney, one of those arrested, jailed and denied bail over the so-called "republican spy ring" in Belfast. It is from Ciaran Kearney's father, veteran civil rights campaigner Oliver Kearney, and is being supported in the U.S. by Irish Northern Aid.

Appell of Oliver Kearney to the Public

Dear Friend

I am very sad to tell you that, after thirty years of campaigning for Civil Rights, in support of the MacBride Principles for Fair Employment, and in defence of prisoners and extraditees, I am now unable to assist my own son Ciaran who has effectively been Interned Without Trial in a British prison in Northern Ireland.

In a politically vicious exercise of judicial discretion, Ciaran has been denied Bail on the most spurious of charges, supported by 'evidence' which would summarily be thrown out of court in any civilised jurisdiction, and is now being imprisoned until his trial eventually occurs, perhaps in twelve, perhaps in eighteen months time.

In Northern Ireland the granting of Bail is discretionary, and is readily available to persons charged with murder, wife battering, criminal assault, racketeering, money laundering and drug dealing.

The judge who refused Bail to Ciaran on a charge of 'possessing documents which might be of use to terrorists', sat in the same courtroom on the same day and granted Bail to a person charged with possessing ammunition, who had been captured three days previously with other members of an armed UVF gang, while breaking into the home of a firearms dealer.

This senile old man declared that he would not make accusations against Ciaran, and then promptly launched into a monologue of wide-ranging speculative fantasies about what intelligent people like Ciaran could be capable of doing if released on Bail. He then suspended the Hearing, suggesting that senior RUC Special Branch officers who were not present in court would attend the following day to indulge the fantasies that he had paraded before their subordinates. They duly obliged by attending to confirm that 'INTELLIGENCE' indicated that Ciaran was probably a cross between 'Carlos The Jackal' and Osama Bin Laden.

This man then displayed quite outrageous contempt for those many good and honourable people who provided written Character References, and who personally attended in court to attest their conviction in Ciaran's good character and his innocence of the charges; and he refused to countenance the most unreserved commitments that Ciaran would provide any sureties, observe any restrictions whatsoever, and would attend his trial when it eventually occurs.

I do not intend to dissipate my energies in writing letters to politicians, Irish or British government officials, or Great and Good people who host thousand-dollar-a-plate dinners, since I know what response I would receive if they bothered to reply. Instead, I am making a direct personal appeal for help to those decent, kindly American people whom I have been honoured to call my friends, who supported prisoners and their families, fought the MacBride Principles Campaign, and made the Peace process possible, before any of these things became fashionable amongst the Great and the Good.

I am attaching a Fact Sheet that objectively summarises the details of Ciaran's experience, along with a suggested Program of Action, which I hope you might consider adopting. Please copy both and distribute them as widely as possible amongst your friends. If you are willing to help, I shall be deeply grateful. If you feel unable to help, no explanation is necessary.

We SHALL Overcome

Oliver Kearney

CIARAN KEARNEY JUSTICE APPEAL
Proposed Action Program (extracts):

I am Ciaran's father Oliver, and I am making a personal appeal for your help in securing the release on Bail of this young father of two little girls, who has never in his life before been accused of even the most minor misdemeanor; who has been selected as the POLITICAL SCAPEGOAT of a political coup d'etat orchestrated by RUC Special Branch - the STAZI, which still controls the Northern Ireland Police Service; and who is now incarcerated without any time limits in a British prison.

If you are willing to help, please ensure that all your actions are Non-violent, Legal, Persistent and Focused on the people who still exercise power in Britain's Irish Colony - namely, the British Government.

To commence the Action Program, Please:

1. Identify the public telephone number of the closest British Consulate Office to your city, county or state.

Telephone this number tomorrow morning. Do not ask to be transferred to any Consular Official. Speak directly to the telephonist.

Inform her/him courteously of your name, any organisation to which you belong, and without any abusive or offensive language, express your outrage at the treatment meted out to Ciaran, and demand his release on Bail. (...)

Jarlath Kearney (Ciaran's brother): Report on the bail hearing

„Ciaran went for bail on Monday. It dragged into Tuesday.

"The judge, in delivering his written decision, accepted the impeccability of the character references which had been assembled for Ciaran, accepted that Ciaran would not abscond and would turn up for trial, accepted that Ciaran had made a significant contribution to the peace process, accepted that Ciaran would return to his full-time employment and his family, and accepted the assurance that Ciaran would observe any and all bail conditions.

"Nevertheless, the judge denied bail.

"The sole basis for his decision was an acceptance of allegations made by the DPP and PSNI Superintendent Robert 'Roy' Suitters that Ciaran was a senior IRA Intelligence Officer who would continue carrying out this activity if released. This untrue allegation of membership of an illegal organisation (for which Ciaran has not even been charged!) was couched in terms of other total untrue allegations, including that he regularly attended Noraid functions in the United States and consequently might use his network of contact there to abscond. When this was rejected and Ciaran's passport was produced, Crown Counsel explained that the allegation was based on "police intelligence" (there's an oxymoron) and Superintendent Suitters explained that he could have travelled on a false passport! ...

"It emerged in court that Ciaran's fingerprints have only been discovered on the UUP Response to the Patten Commission and an anonymous political treatise about republicans ...

"So you can see how weak the case is. Yet a bail hearing is such that hearsay evidence is admissible God knows what they would say about Denis [Donaldson] if he goes for bail ..."

Ciaran Kearney - Fact Sheet

Ciaran is 31 years old, and a First Class Honours graduate of Ulster University. He is married to Jane. They are buying their own house in Belfast and they have two little daughters aged 5 and 3.

Ciaran is the son of veteran Civil Rights and MacBride Principles campaigner, Oliver Kearney. Jane is the daughter of Denis Donaldson, former prison comrade of Bobby Sands, and head of the Sinn Fein administration unit at the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Ciaran played a leading role in the Economic Equality campaign of the late 1990s, and he has been employed for 5 years as Policy Research and Information Manager of the Falls Community Council based in West Belfast. Ciaran has spear-headed crucial research and analysis by the Council, and also by Sinn Fein, into economic deprivation and inequality in the nationalist community; in Human Rights; in the Review of the north's Criminal Justice System; and most particularly in Reform of the Policing system, and the Patten Commission Report.

His research has been submitted to the Northern Ireland Office of the British government; to the Irish government; to the European Commission; and to the United Nations.

On 4 October 2002 the Northern Ireland police service, directed by RUC Special Branch, staged a high-profile paramilitary raid on the Sinn Fein offices in the Assembly, and they arrested Ciaran and his father-in-law Denis Donaldson at their respective homes.

Ciaran was held under arrest in custody for 6 1/2 days, and his house was raided and searched for a second time during this period. After holding Ciaran for 156 hours, the police informed him that he was to be charged with 'possessing documents which could be of use to terrorists'. Before being charged, a police detective agreed with Ciaran's lawyer that the documents to which he was being directly linked were not in themselves incriminating.

The documents were allegedly found in a rucksack at the home of Ciaran's father-in-law, which allegedly included some documents that 'could be of use to terrorists'. In the rucksack, the police claimed to have found Ciaran's fingerprints on a political party's published analysis of the Patten Commission Report on police reform; to have found his fingerprints on a sheet of paper containing notes for an essay on republicanism, which was allegedly found in a section of the rucksack along with other sheets of paper, some of which 'could be of use to terrorists'; and to have found one of Ciaran's thumbprints on a plastic bag from a popular clothes store, which was also in the rucksack.

The police claimed that the thumbprint on the plastic bag proved that Ciaran 'must at some time have had in his possession all the documents in the rucksack' including those alleged to be of an incriminating nature.

The Belfast magistrate who remanded Ciaran in custody accepted this evidence. Ciaran applied to be released on Bail to the Northern Ireland High Court on 4 and 5 November. The granting of Bail in Northern Ireland is discretionary, and the applicant is not permitted to give evidence on his own behalf.

At the Bail Hearing the police confirmed that they are relying on the above evidence, which did not place Ciaran in possession of any incriminating material. However, they also claimed that police 'Intelligence' suggested that Ciaran was a 'Senior IRA Intelligence Officer' who would be dangerous if released on bail.

Ciaran was denied Bail by the judge on the sole basis of this allegation. He has been remanded in custody to await a Trial, which might occur in 12 or 18 months time. He is effectively Interned Without Trial as the victim of a political 'Frame-up' by the RUC Special Branch, which still controls the Northern Ireland police service.


Background:

Peace Process & Good Friday Agreement
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