LIAM HANNAWAY ENDS HUNGER STRIKE |
| IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE
NEWSLIST http://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net Wednesday, May 26, 2010 LIAM HANNAWAY ENDS HUNGER STRIKE It is with great relief that the Irish Freedom Committee welcomes the news that Liam Hannaway has ended his hunger strike after 42 days. Liam came off the hunger strike last night just after 7:00 pm GMT in the hospital wing of Maghaberry prison, with his fiancée Allison present. Liam's health has suffered greatly over the past six weeks and he will likely remain under hospital care for some time. We anticipate that Liam's transfer to Roe house will go forward smoothly soon after. Liam undertook this protracted hunger strike to have his demands met to be transferred to Roe house to join the republican political prisoners. Liam had been held for the past year in a small unit of the jail housing hostile loyalist, ex-police and ex-prison warden criminals. Prior to that, he had been housed in an SSU isolation unit of the jail for 14 months. Liam had been told by prison authorities that a "death threat" had been issued to him by republicans; however no substantiation of this claim has been proven from either inside or outside the prison. Further a prison waiver, which would have absolved the prison of all liability should the death threat manifest itself, was refused to Liam to sign. The Irish Freedom Committee wishes to thank our many supporters across the US who tirelessly wrote and posted letters and emails to British government officials and International human rights bodies, over the past six weeks of Liam's hunger strike. We know that this story could not have received the international attention that it did were it not for your hard work. Our reporting of this dire situation has been widely sourced in the media. We view with no small amount of cynicism the 11th –hour attention that opportunistic British ministers from provisional Sinn Fein brought to this hunger strike. When the hunger striker is a blood relative of Gerry Adams - who knew about this hunger strike from day 2 - it is hardly a humanitarian gesture to wait four weeks to acknowledge that a man is suffering for his principles. Furthermore it is these same provisional Sinn Fein ministers who signed away the Political Status that ten men died for in Long Kesh jail in 1981, when these ministers accepted the so-called Good Friday agreement and set the partition of Ireland in stone. The situation at Roe House, where Liam wishes to be transferred, remains dire. We urge supporters to continue to send letters and emails demanding Political Status for all republican prisoners at Maghaberry, and an immediate end to the unacceptable conditions at the jail. FOR MORE INFORMATION on what you can do to help – get sample letters and contact info – go to the Irish Freedom Committee website at http://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net BEIR BUA! **************************************************
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