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News Letter
17 May 2012
OWEN Paterson has defended his decision to revoke the licence which allowed Old Bailey bomber Marian Price out of jail under the Belfast Agreement.
The Old Bailey bomber was returned to prison last year after intelligence provided to the Secretary of State linked her to terrorism.
She also faces a charge in connection with the murders of two soldiers at Massereene Barracks. Last week, a judge dismissed charges against Price and three men arising from an Easter commemoration.
Sinn Fein and the SDLP have claimed that she is being “interned” but unionists have supported the decision.
On Sunday, the DUP’s Peter Weir said he wouldn’t “be crying too many tears” over Price.
Yesterday, in the Commons, Mr Paterson made a carefully-worded statement about “a matter of huge consequence and debate in Northern Ireland” without referring to Price by name.
He said that the Parole Commissioners, who are appointed by the Stormont Justice Minister, were responsible for decisions on the release and recall of life-sentence prisoners.
“If information is brought to my attention, I share it with the commissioners and seek a recommendation from them regarding whether to revoke a licence.
“If they recommend that I do so, I will revoke, because I have a duty to protect the public… The commissioners make their decision on whether to release the prisoner because they are no longer a risk to the public, or whether the prisoner should stay in custody. The commissioners’ decision is binding.”
By Alan Erwin
Belfast Telegraph
11 May 2012
Jailed: Marian Price with a masked man during a 32 County Sovereignty Movement Easter commemoration
A new legal bid is being prepared to free veteran republican Marian Price after a terror charge against her was dismissed.
The challenge will centre on Secretary of State Owen Paterson’s decision to revoke the 57-year-old’s release from prison on licence, her lawyer confirmed.
Price, from Stockman’s Avenue, Belfast, was among four defendants to have charges in connection with an Easter Rising commemoration parade in Derry’s city cemetery last year dismissed by a judge.
She had been accused of managing a meeting in support of a proscribed organisation.
Her three co-accused were released due to delays in preparation of preliminary inquiry papers in the case.
But Price remains in custody on a separate charge connected to the murders of two soldiers at Massereene Barracks in Antrim.
She denies providing property, including a mobile phone, for terrorist purposes in connection with the killing of Sappers Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey in March 2009.
Price had her licence revoked by the Secretary of State almost a year ago.
Mr Paterson said at the time that her licence had been revoked because the threat she posed had “significantly increased”. Her lawyer claimed the case against her over the Derry incident was “a central plank” in Mr Paterson’s decision.
Kevin Winters said: “One year later we are told today that the charge has been withdrawn.
“This raises serious doubts on the credibility of the reasons to revoke her licence, and we intend to revisit this through the courts.”
Possible options include issuing judicial review proceedings or a writ of habeas corpus seeking her release from detention.
With Price, also known by her married name of McGlinchey, said to have been too ill to attend a number of court hearings, Mr Winters added: “The timing of this is significant given Marian’s deteriorating health.”
In 1973 Price was jailed for 20 years for her involvement in an IRA bombing campaign in London, alongside her sister Dolours and Sinn Fein minister Gerry Kelly. She is now a member of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement.
A Freedom of Information request recently revealed that it cost £194,537 to house Price in Maghaberry prison for a nine-month period, before she was moved to Hydebank women’s prison earlier this year.
Price had been sent to Maghaberry, an all-male prison, following her arrest last year but was then moved to Hydebank on the advice of health trust staff.
BBC
11 May 2012
A DUP MLA has criticised the Public Prosecution Service for its role in the case of the veteran republican Marian Price and three others.
On Thursday, a court dismissed the charges against her and three men relating to a Republican Easter Commemoration in Derry last year.
A judge dismissed the case when it emerged that court papers were not ready.
Paul Givan said the PPS has questions to answer.
Mr Givan, who chairs the assembly’s justice committee, said he wanted to know why the case has now been dismissed.
“The judge has made it clear he’s putting the blame with the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) for not having the proper papers ready and I think it’s for the director of the PPS now to come forward and to explain why his organisation didn’t have those papers ready,” he said.
Ms Price and the three men were all charged in connection with a demonstration last year in the City Cemetery during which a masked man made threats against the PSNI.
Ms Price was charged along with Patrick McDaid, of Beechwood Avenue, Frank Quigley of Elmwood Road and Marvin Canning of Glendara, all from Derry.
Mr Canning is a brother-in-law of Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.
Delay
After being told that preliminary inquiry papers were still not ready, District Judge Barney McElholm released her three co-accused as there was no evidence before him.
He said everyone was entitled to a fair trial within a reasonable period of time and he had seen cases involving complicated forensics which had taken less time than this.
A prosecution barrister requested a two-week adjournment to allow the papers to be finalised but the judge told Londonderry Magistrates’ Court he would not allow any further adjournments.
The judge said that while Ms Price’s case was slightly different, the three men could be released from custody.
She remains in custody charged in connection with the murders of two soldiers at Massereene Barracks.
She denies providing property for the purposes of terrorism, a charge related to the murders of Sappers Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey at Massereene barracks in March 2009.
Ms Price’s lawyer said a new bid to free her would be made. He claimed the case against her over the Derry incident had been “a central plank” in Mr Patterson’s decision.
Ms Price was jailed for the IRA bombing of the Old Bailey in London in 1973. Secretary of State Owen Paterson revoked her release from prison on licence almost a year ago.
BBC
10 May 2012
Terrorist charges have been dismissed against four prominent republicans, including Marian Price, over an Easter commemoration parade in Derry.
They were all charged in connection with a demonstration last year in the City Cemetery during which a masked man made threats against the PSNI.
Price was said to be too ill to attend the hearing.
She remains in custody charged in connection with the murders of two soldiers at Massereene Barracks.
Price was due to appear at Derry Magistrates Court alongside Patrick McDaid, of Beechwood Avenue, Frank Quigley of Elmwood Road and Marvin Canning of Glendara.
Mr Canning is a brother-in-law of Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.
After being told that preliminary inquiry papers were still not ready, District Judge Barney McElholm released her three co-accused as there was no evidence before him.
He said everyone was entitled to a fair trial within a reasonable period of time and he had seen cases involving complicated forensics which had taken less time than this.
A prosecution barrister requested a two-week adjournment to allow the papers to be finalised but the judge said he would not allow any further adjournments.
The judge said that while Price’s case was slightly different, the three men could be released from custody.
Price was jailed for the IRA bombing of the Old Bailey in London in 1973. Secretary of State Owen Paterson revoked her release from prison on licence almost a year ago.
She denies providing property for the purposes of terrorism, a charge related to the murders of Sappers Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey at Massereene barracks in March 2009.
Price’s lawyer said a new bid to free her would be made. He claimed the case against her over the Derry incident had been “a central plank” in Mr Patterson’s decision.
BBC
23 Apr 2012
Up to two hundred people attended a rally in Derry on Sunday to campaign for the release of Marion Price.
Last year the Secretary of State Owen Paterson revoked her licence after she was charged in connection with a dissident republican rally in the city last Easter.
Those taking part in the protest walked from Free Derry Corner to Guildhall Square. A number of speakers attended including Marion Price’s husband Gerry McGlinchey.
Mr McGlinchey called for the secretary of state to release her.
“He has not made clear in any way what threat she poses. I don’t think she poses any threat.
“He refuses to say what evidence he has. There’s no case to fight because nobody knows what she’s charged of,” he said.
Foyle SDLP MLA Pat Ramsey is to meet with the secretary of state over the imprisonment of Marion Price.
He said a party delegation will also meet the Justice Minister David Ford this week.
“It is fairly obvious that 12 months of solitary confinement has taken its toll. The SDLP are of the opinion she should be released.
“There is something not right if we have senior consultants telling us this lady should be in a hospital environment and the justice minister is being told something else,” he said.
**Received via email from Helen McClafferty – 17 April 2012
Pressure grows for release of Gerry McGeough and Marian Price
Former Fianna Fail minister Éamon Ó Cuív has added his voice to a campaign for the release of a high-profile republican dissident, former Sinn Fein Ard Chomhairle member Gerry McGeough.
Mr McGeough from Tyrone, a father of four, was arrested leaving a count centre in Omagh in 2007, having stood as an independent republican candidate in the Six County Assembly elections. He stood trial last year on IRA charges dating from 1981, and is now serving 20 years at Maghaberry prison.
His arrest was clearly politically motivated, given that he had been living openly in the North since 1996. Mr McGeough was stopped at checkpoints many times, called for jury service on two occasions and
made numerous appearances on television and radio programmes in advance of his arrest.
Campaigners have also raised concerns about McGeough’s health. He has had five stents inserted after a series of heart attacks, and a prison doctor has said that, due to his health, he should not be in prison.
Mr Ó Cuív spoke at a press conference this week with the Gerry McGeough Justice Campaign, Irish-American campaigner Fr Seán McManus and members of McGeough’s family.
He said part of the Weston Park agreement signed in 2001 between the Dublin and London governments dealt with the issue of outstanding prosecutions. It accepted that prosecutions for offences that would benefit from the early-release scheme should not be pursued.
“Unfortunately this legislation was never passed in Westminster and the matter has been left in abeyance,” Mr Ó Cuív said. “However, I believe that the agreement should still be implemented.” He said the event involved happened 31 years ago, and Mr McGeough had always supported the peace process. He had returned to Ireland, gone to Trinity College Dublin and “lived and worked peacefully”.
“All we are asking for is for the Weston Park agreement to be acted on and for Gerry to be released immediately,” Mr Ó Cuív said.
Members of Sinn Féin, republicans and a number of human rights organisations joined Mr O Cuív in the pre-Easter meeting to demand that McGeough be freed. His 11-year old daughter Una issued her own personal plea at the press conference.
”Everybody tells us that life at home is better now because of the peace process, but our lives are very sad. Why is there no peace process for us? Why is only our family being punished? We want our daddy home,” she said.
___________
RALLY FOR MARIAN
A major rally challenging the continued internment of Marian Price is to be led by Father Raymond Murray next weekend.
The former prison chaplain will speak at the event at Derry’s Guildhall Square on Sunday April 22. The rally will follow a procession through the city from Free Derry Corner at 2.30pm.
Rally organisers say the relaxation of Price’s prison conditions was a result of pressure applied by a meeting attended by hundreds of people in Derry and believe her continued confinement is “in direct conflict with current human rights legislation”.
”Owen Paterson sent Marian Price back to prison following the revocation of a supposed life licence. She was released from prison close to death in 1980,” they said in a statement.
”Mr Paterson conveniently overlooked the fact that Marian Price received a Royal Prerogative of Mercy [pardon] shortly after her release.
”This document wiped the slate clean for Marian and overrode the licence she was previously released on.”
They are challenging the claimed “loss or shredding” of Ms Price’s pardon, which her legal team believe would secure her release.
”Owen Paterson has no mandate in the north of Ireland nor is he accountable to the people here yet he can disregard the rulings of two judges and keep Marian Price in prison,” the statement read.
”This scenario raises questions about the justice powers devolved to Stormont and the judiciary as well as the independence of this branch of government.
”We believe justice is a core element in the establishment of real peace and stability and would ask everyone to join the procession and rally on April 22 to call with one loud voice for justice for Marian Price and all victims of internment and torture.”
Herald.ie
5 Apr 2012
Marian Price is unfit to face trial, it has been claimed
Marian Price’s mental state has left her unfit to face trial following an assessment by prison doctors, it has been claimed.
The Old Bailey bomber who is being held at Hydebank, south Belfast after her release licence was revoked almost a year ago also needs outside care, Northern Ireland Justice Minister David Ford has been told.
Jennifer McCann, a Sinn Fein member of the justice committee at Stormont who met the minister in Belfast, has demanded she be freed.
She said: “The doctors have also stated that she is not fit to participate in any legal proceedings. The fact that she has twice been released on bail by senior judges, who have seen evidence not available to her solicitors, raises the question, how is she a threat to anyone?
“This is an abuse of natural justice. On humanitarian terms alone she should be moved to an outside hospital, never mind the fact that her continued imprisonment damages public confidence in the justice system.”
Price, from Stockman’s Ave, Belfast, who served time for her part in the IRA bombing of the Old Bailey in London in 1973, was re-arrested by police last May following an Easter Commemoration rally by dissident republicans at Derry’s city cemetery where she held paper to enable a masked man to read a speech.
She was later accused of encouraging support for an illegal organisation and granted bail. But Secretary of State Owen Patterson moved immediately to revoke her release licence.
Price has since been charged in connection with the murders of two soldiers in March 2009 – a charge which she also denies.
A spokesperson for the Northern Ireland Prison Service said Price’s health was the responsibility of the Southern Eastern Trust. He added: “Her medical needs are being met in full by the SET who have responsibility for the healthcare of all prisoners.”
Derry Journal
19 March 2012
A demonstration is to be held in Derry to highlight the ongoing detention of Marian Price and Palestinian hunger-striker Hana al-Shalabi.
Organised by Palestinian solidarity campaigners and the Prisons Crisis Group, the demo will be held at 5pm on March 21 in Guildhall Square.
Betty Doherty, spokesperson for the Prisons Crisis Group said: “Our group has been focused on prisoners in the North and particularly Marian Price.
“But the parallels with Hana’s case are striking. Both are in prison without charge or trial on the say-so of politicians. That is to say, both are political prisoners who have felt compelled to resort to hunger-strike to make their situation known and their voices heard.
“Linking the cases reminds us that the struggle for justice is the same the whole world over. We ask people to bring banners and placards to the Guildhall at five o’clock but most of all to bring themselves.”
BBC
14 Mar 2012
Sinn Fein have said Old Bailey bomber Marian Price has refused to meet them during a visit to Hydebank women’s prison.
The party’s MLAs Sean Lynch and Jennifer McCann visited the jail on Wednesday with a view to meeting Price.
They said Price had refused to meet them, but that they had met with prison officials and inspected “her living conditions”.
Last month, Price was moved to Hydebank from Maghaberry jail.
“We visited Hydebank today and repeat our call for the immediate release of Marian Price,” the Sinn Fein MLAs said.
“Given the fact that she has been bailed on the charges she was originally arrested for, there is no justification whatsoever for her continued detention.
“Sinn Fein is against the revoking of licenses and if there is any evidence against someone it should be brought before a court of law.
“Marian Price’s continued detention is a serious concern given her medical condition and she should be released immediately so that her medical needs can be addressed adequately.”
The prison service has told the BBC previously that the decision to move Price to Hydebank was taken on clinical advice from healthcare staff at the South Eastern Trust.
It said that since being returned to prison last year, the prison service and the trust have, on a number of occasions, discussed and reviewed her needs while in custody.
Price was returned to prison last May after appearing at a dissident republican rally in Derry and has since been charged in connection with the murders of two soldiers at Masserene in March 2009, a charge she denies.
EAMONN McCANN
Irish Times
18 Feb 2012
Marian Price leaving court in Derry in May 2011, where she was charged with encouraging support for an illegal organisation. (Photograph: Trevor McBride)
LAWYERS FOR Marian Price will next week launch judicial review proceedings in the High Court in Belfast asking for her release from prison on the grounds that Northern Ireland Secretary of State Owen Paterson had no authority to order her detention.
The veteran republican was detained in May 2011 when Paterson signed an order declaring that she had breached the terms of the licence on which she’d been released in 1980 from two life sentences and a 20-year term imposed for IRA bombings in London, including the bombing of the Old Bailey, in March 1973. Around 180 people were injured in the blasts, mainly by flying glass. One man died from a heart attack. Price’s elder sister, Dolours, and Gerry Kelly, now a minister in the Stormont Executive, were among the 10-strong IRA bomb team.
Lawyers for Price, who is 57, say that she was pardoned rather than released on licence and that Paterson exceeded his authority in sending her back to prison. Paterson’s barristers contest this, but have told a panel of parole commissioners that “extensive searches” have failed to locate a copy of the document on which she was released.
Price was the only female detainee in the high-security Maghaberry prison in Co Antrim from May 11th last year, when she was charged with encouraging support for an illegal organisation. In recent days, she has been moved to the female wing of Hydebank prison. The charge arose from an incident during the 32-County Sovereignty Movement’s Easter commemoration in Derry city cemetery when she held up the script from which a masked man read the Real IRA’s “Easter Message”. The 32-County Sovereignty Movement, of which Price is secretary, is widely regarded as the political wing of the Real IRA.
Opposing bail, a detective sergeant told the court in Derry that the Real IRA statement had “threatened assassination against anyone from the nationalist or republican community who may be perceived by the IRA to be a traitor.” He agreed that Price had maintained during questioning that she had not known the content of the statement in advance. Granting bail, District Judge Barney McElholm said that there was no evidence that Price had had prior knowledge of the “vile and objectionable” nature of the statement, nor any record of absconding.
Price was rearrested as she left the dock on the basis of the order signed by Paterson the previous evening. In Maghaberry two months later, Price was further charged with “providing property for the purposes of terrorism” – allegedly supplying a mobile phone subsequently used in connection with the Real IRA gun attack in which two soldiers were killed outside Massereene barracks in Antrim in March 2009.
Price had been questioned for two days about this allegation in November 2009 and released without charge. Her lawyers say that there had been no change in circumstances in the interim and that no new evidence had emerged. They suggest that the charge was brought so as to pre-empt their planned challenge to the validity of the detention order. An attempt to have the Massereene-related charge ruled out as an abuse of process was postponed until the question of the extent of the pardon has been settled.
In a ruling on January 30th, the parole commissioners recounted that “Mrs McGlinchey (then Marian Price) was convicted on two charges of causing explosions and one charge of conspiring to cause an explosion. She was given two life sentences and a concurrent 20-year sentence on November 15th, 1973. She was released on licence on April 30th, 1980. Sometime shortly after her release, Mrs McGlinchey received a Royal Prerogative of Mercy (RPM), commonly referred to as a Royal Pardon. The issue is a simple one. Did the RPM cover only the 20-year determinate sentence or did it also cover the two life sentences? This should be a simple matter to determine by looking at the RPM. The difficulty is that the Secretary of State has informed the panel that the RPM cannot be located.”
Price’s lawyers have told the commissioners that, “It is difficult to fathom how, even exercising a modicum of care, this document was destroyed without someone, before destruction, ensuring that the original (or at least another copy) was still in existence. There is certainly a foundation for suggesting that this document may (and we can put it no higher) have been deliberately ‘buried’ given the embarrassment it might cause.”
The panel found that Paterson’s view was correct, that while the balance of Price’s 20-year sentence was remitted, her release from the life sentences was conditional on future behaviour. They cite a letter dated April 30th, 1980 – the day Price was released – from the private secretary to the Secretary of State to the private secretary to the Queen: “Her (McGlinchey’s) release involves release from the life sentence which means that she will always remain liable to be recalled to prison if her behaviour justifies this step.”
The commissioners supported this view with a quote from an Irish Times news story on May 1st, 1980: “The official announcement explained that the release was ‘on licence’, meaning that Price could be recalled at any time.” The panel goes on to note, however, that the Royal Prerogative of Mercy was issued “sometime very shortly after her release . . . although the precise date is uncertain.”
In an affidavit, Price says that, “In the wake of my release my solicitor Patrick Marrinan visited me to inform me that I had subsequently been granted the Royal Prerogative of Mercy which pardoned me of all of the 1973 convictions including the life sentence . . . He stated that I was as free as he was under the law [and] not on licence.”
MEMBERS OF PRICE’S family say that the “pardon” was negotiated with then-Northern Secretary William Whitelaw by Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich. In finding for the Secretary of State, the panel pointed out that “There is no contemporary material exhibited to the affidavit to confirm or support [her] claims concerning the scope of the RPM.”
Price’s lawyers say that it is unreasonable to expect her to have retained a legal document from 30 years ago and that the fact that she didn’t should not be used against her.
The judicial review proceedings are aimed at overturning the January 30th ruling. Lawyers for Price will ask the High Court to endorse instead their view that “the onus is on the detaining authority to prove the legality of the detention . . . Mrs McGlinchey should be discharged as the authorities cannot establish that she is, in fact and in law, on licence.” Price’s association with “dissident” republicans has deprived her of support from many who might in other circumstances have rallied against her detention on a minister’s say-so and the perceived lack of due process.
Little has been heard from civil libertarians or from women’s groups. Demonstrations have been tiny. There has been scant media coverage.
The bitterness of republican splits is seen in the fact that Price last month refused to meet a Sinn Féin delegation visiting the prison.Only a handful of SDLP members of the Assembly have taken up her case. Pat Ramsey of the SDLP, who saw Price in Maghaberry a number of times, says: “She is effectively in isolation – the only woman in a high-security male prison. Her health is bad and getting worse.”
The background
Marian Price first came to public attention in 1973 when, aged 19, she, her sister Dolours and eight others were charged with being part of an IRA unit which planted four bombs in London. Sentenced to life, she, Dolours, Hugh Feeney and Gerry Kelly – now a Stormont minister – spent more than 200 days on hunger strike seeking political status. She was force-fed 167 times.
From one of the best-known republican families in Belfast – her father Albert had been in the IRA in the 1940s – she was active in the mainly-student People’s Democracy before becoming one of the first women admitted as a full member into the IRA. Released in the 1980s, she remained politically uninvolved until the 1990s when she emerged as one of the most vocal republican critics of the Sinn Féin “peace strategy”.
Revoking her licence last year, Northern Secretary Owen Paterson said that the threat which she posed had “significantly increased”.
BBC
17 Feb 2012
Old Bailey bomber Marian Price has been moved from Maghaberry to the women’s prison at Hydebank outside Belfast.
On Thursday night a priest described her continuing detention as a form of internment.
Marian Price has been held on licence since she appeared at a dissident republican rally in Derry last year
The claim has been “entirely refuted” by NI Secretary Owen Paterson, who revoked her release licence last May.
The prison service has told the BBC the decision to move Price was taken on clinical advice from healthcare staff at the South Eastern Trust.
It said that since being returned to prison nine months ago the prison service and the trust have, on a number of occasions, discussed and reviewed her needs while in custody.
She was returned to prison last May after appearing at a dissident republican rally in Derry and has since been charged in connection with the murders of two soldiers at Masserene a charge she denies.
‘Form of internment’
A meeting of supporters campaigning for her release was held in Derry on Thursday night.
Former prison chaplain Monsignor Raymond Murray said Mr Paterson’s decision had echoes of the past for nationalists.
“This is a form of internment,” said Monsignor Murray, who was prison chaplain in Armagh for almost 20 years.
“I am just shocked that the secretary of state wouldn’t be aware of how seriously nationalist people look on internment.
“We thought it had all ended and here it is coming under a form of revocation, revoking a license.
“He would have to explain to us and explain the process of law as regards Marian Price.
“In any way has she broken the law? That would have to be provided but it is not provided by shoving her into prison on a pretence in an unjust way.”
On Friday, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness also criticised her detention.
“That action by Owen Paterson amounted to detention without trial and runs contrary to natural justice,” he added.
“Sinn Fein has raised its concerns on this issue at every opportunity and will continue to press Owen Paterson on it as a matter of urgency.”
‘Protection of the public’
However, the Northern Ireland Office said: “Following a recommendation from the independent parole commissioners, the secretary of state revoked Marian McGlinchey’s licence on 15 May 2011.
“In accordance with the provisions of the Life Sentences (Northern Ireland) Order 2011, the secretary of state may revoke a licence where it is necessary for the protection of the public from serious harm and to prevent the commission of further offences.
“Those released on licence have an obligation to act within the terms of their release.
“Mrs McGlinchey has been charged with two offences under the Terrorism Act 2000, one of which is in connection with the Masserene murders.
“In these circumstances, and considering the need to protect the public, Mrs. McGlinchey’s licence was revoked. An independent panel of parole commissioners is now considering her case.
“The secretary of state entirely refutes the allegation that this is internment without trial.
“Due process has been followed at all times: Mrs McGlinchey is aware of the case against her and has an opportunity to challenge it, and submit evidence on her behalf, during the course of the parole hearing.”
Justice committee chair Paul Girvan of the DUP, said claims of internment were “reckless and dangerous” and said he supported the action taken by Mr Paterson.
“It feeds the propaganda of dissident republicans who want to take Northern Ireland back to our troubled past,” he said.
Commenting on Price’s move to Hydebank, Mr Givan questioned her placing in Maghaberry – an all-male prison.
BBC
30 Jan 2012
The continued detainment of alleged dissident republican Marian Price has “unintentionally provided a recruiting tool” for dissident republicans, an SDLP MLA told the assembly on Monday.
Pat Ramsey tabled a motion calling on Justice Minister David Ford to liaise with the Secretary of State to review the conditions of her detention.
Marian Price Marian Price is being held in Maghaberry prison
Price has been in custody in Maghaberry prison since May 2011, when Mr Paterson revoked the release from prison on licence of the Old Bailey bomber.
“This action provided the dissidents the opportunity again to rouse the long-held suspicion of the British justice system imposing its role on the people across Northern Ireland,” Mr Ramsey said.
Ms Price, also known as Marian McGlinchey, had been charged with encouraging support for an illegal organisation, the IRA, following a dissident republican rally in Londonderry on Easter Sunday.
The judge granted her bail on that charge, although her licence was later revoked.
Internment
Speaking at the time, Mr Paterson said he made the decision because the threat posed by Price had “significantly increased”.
Before members discussed the motion, Speaker Willie Hay warned that nothing could be said which would jeopardise the current prosecutions with the courts.
Sinn Fein’s Jennifer McCann said her party had attempted to get an amendment to the motion to acknowledge republican prisoner Martin Corry.
She said she saw Price’s case as “tantamount to internment without trial”.
The DUP’s Paul Givan, who is also chair of the justice committee, said the motion was “irresponsibly tabled by the SDLP”.
“Mr Ramsey not once commented on Marian Price’s history and why her licence has been revoked,” he said.
He added that the secretary of state had a “duty to protect the wider interests of society”.
Price was jailed for the IRA bombing of the Old Bailey in London in 1973. She was released on compassionate grounds in 1980.
By Duncan Gardham
Telegraph.co.uk
20 Jan 2012
**Video onsite
Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey were murdered in March 2009
Police believe that at least two more people, including one of the Old Bailey bombers, were involved in the shooting of two British soldiers at the Massereene barracks in Northern Ireland.
Dissident Republican Brian Shivers, from Magherafelt, Co Derry, was found guilty of the shooting of the two soldiers in March 2009 and the attempted murder of six others.
Shivers, 46, suffers from the genetic lung disorder cystic fibrosis and was told in 2008 that he had five or six years to live. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Colin Duffy, 43, a prominent dissident Republican from Lurgan, Co Armagh, who has been arrested in a string of previous cases connected to the IRA, was acquitted despite evidence that his DNA was found in the getaway car. It was the second time Duffy has been found not guilty of murder
Detective Superintendent Peter Farrar, the Senior Investigating Officer, said: “This investigation is not over. We will continue to pursue all those involved in these evil murders.”
Police believe that Marian Price, the Old Bailey bomber, and one of the sons of notorious Republican terrorist, Dominic “Mad Dog” McGlinchey, were also involved in the shootings.
Sappers Mark Quinsey, 23, from Birmingham and Patrick Azimkar, 21, from London, were killed outside the Massereene barracks in Antrim, and two soldiers and two pizza deliverymen were injured. Two guards escaped unhurt
The soldiers were wearing desert fatigues and were to be deployed to Afghanistan the next day. The Real IRA claimed responsibility.
Old Bailey bomber Marian Price, 57, has been charged with providing a mobile phone for the Massereene gang.
A former IRA hunger striker, she was jailed in 1973 along with her sister Dolours and six others for her role in a republican bombing campaign in London.
Price is a prominent member of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, a political group linked to the Real IRA.
One person died and almost 200 were injured in two car bombs which blew up outside the Old Bailey and Yard in March 1973.
It has also been claimed that police have “reliable” information that one of McGlinchey’s sons was the getaway driver during the murders at the Massereene Barracks.
They have arrested and questioned both Dominic McGlinchey jnr, 34, and his brother Declan, 35, about the killing.
The brothers are sons of the former IRA terrorist and INLA leader who was assassinated in a phone box in the Irish Republic in 1994.
Shivers spoke of his friendship with Dominic McGlinchey jnr, and said McGlinchey had visited his house five to six times the week before the Massereene shooting because he said he was moving to Galway in the Irish Republic.
McGlinchey has indicated his intention to make formal complaints to the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Police Ombudsman over the references about him made in open court.
The weapons used in the Massereene attack appear to be from old IRA stocks that should have been decommissioned.
Key evidence survived because the terrorists abandoned their getaway car before managing to set it on fire.
DNA testing – fiercely contested by the defence – linked Duffy to the tip of a latex glove found in the abandoned getaway car and Shivers to a matchstick and mobile phone.
Judge Anthony Hart, who was sitting without a jury, told the court that he was satisfied that Duffy’s DNA was found on the glove fragment and on a seat buckle but he said the prosecution had failed to link the defendant to the murder plot.
He said: “I consider that there is insufficient evidence to satisfy me beyond reasonable doubt that whatever Duffy may have done when he wore the latex glove, or touched the seatbelt buckle, meant that he was preparing the car in some way for this murderous attack. And I therefore find him not guilty.”
The shooting took place at around 9.40pm on March 7 2009, when four off-duty soldiers from 38 Engineer Regiment went to collect pizzas at the gates of the barracks near Antrim.
As they paid for the take-aways, two gunmen stepped out of green Vauxhall Cavalier parked in a side street and opened fire.
The shootings were the first British military fatalities in Northern Ireland since Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick was shot dead by a sniper in South Armagh in February 1997.
Two days after the Massereene shooting, PC Stephen Carroll was shot dead in Craigavon, County Armagh as he answered and emergency call. It was the first killing of a police officer in Northern Ireland since 1998.
The killings provoked unique condemnation from both sides of the political divide for the first time in the history of the province.
By Deborah McAleese
Belfast Telegraph
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Old Bailey bomber and former IRA hunger striker Marian Price is to stand trial in connection with the murders of two soldiers gunned down outside their Antrim base three years ago.
Price appeared before Belfast Magistrates Court yesterday where a barrister for the Public Prosecution Service said he believed there was a prima facie case against her.
Veteran republican Marian Price
District Judge Mervyn Bates returned Price for Crown Court trial on a date yet to be fixed. The 57-year-old spokeswoman for the 32 County Sovereignty Movement is accused of providing property for the purposes of terrorism.
She is alleged to have provided a mobile phone to the gang responsible for the killings of Sappers Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey at Massereene barracks in Antrim in March 2009.
Unlike previous court appearances, there were no supporters of Price visible yesterday at Laganside Courthouse where there was a heavy police presence for the short preliminary investigation into the case.
After a 10-minute adjournment to speak in private with her barrister Sean Devine, Price, who is also known by her married name Marian McGlinchey, only spoke to say she understood the charge against her and that she did not wish to say anything.
The court was told that hearsay evidence will be introduced against Price in relation to statements she allegedly made to a journalist.
Hearsay evidence will also be used in relation to phone records that will allegedly connect the 57-year-old’s mobile phone to the Real IRA’s claim of responsibility for the Massereene murders.
No submissions were made by Price’s legal team and she was returned to custody to await a date for trial.
Profile
In 1973 Marian Price was jailed for 20 years for her involvement in an IRA bombing campaign in London, alongside her sister Dolours and current Sinn Fein minister Gerry Kelly. She is now a member of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement.
FREE MARIAN PRICE AND MARTIN COREY
patfinucanecentre.org
The PFC is arguing for the release of Belfast woman Marian Price and Lurgan man Martin Corey from Maghaberry jail on the basis that both are effectively interned without trial – contrary to all domestic and international human rights standards.
Ms. Price was sent to jail last May by an order of the Northern Secretary, Owen Paterson, after holding a script for a masked representative of the “Real IRA” to read at a 32 County Sovereignty Movement Easter commemoration.
Paterson has revoked the licence releasing her almost 30 years earlier from a life sentence for the 1973 IRA bombing of the Old Bailey. Her lawyers say she was freed from that sentence on the basis of a royal pardon which supersedes Paterson’s powers and which, anyhow, appears to have been shredded.
Ms. Price, aged 57, who is seriously unwell and in constant pain, has now spent eight months in Maghaberry, in solitary confinement, not having been convicted of any crime. We are currently awaiting news from the Independent Parole Commissioners about her possible release.
Similarly, the PFC is concerned at the continued detention of Lurgan man, Martin Corey, aged 61, who also remains behind bars – also without being tried or convicted of any crime.
Convicted of a double murder in December 1973, he was sentenced to life imprisonment at the age of 19, spending the next 19 years in jail before his release, on licence, in June 1992.
On 16 April 2010 he was taken back into custody, the only reason so far given that he is a “security risk” citing allegations that he is a dissident republican. His legal team have described this “evidence” as “closed material”.
Corey has begun a judicial review against the Independent Parole Commissioners on the basis of the alleged secrecy surrounding the reasons, citing a lack of detail on the evidence used which makes it impossible for him to appeal.
His solicitor says the European Court of Human Rights and the House of Lords have both made it clear that details must be given in such circumstances. A full hearing is due in March.
The PFC’s view is that the politics of both prisoners are irrelevant, that their rights are being ignored and both should be released forthwith. Anyone who shares this view is encouraged to write to Owen Paterson at Stormont.
Ends
Suzanne Breen
Sunday World
8 Jan 2012
**Via Newhound
Old Bailey bomber Marian Price will hear this week if she’s to be freed from Maghaberry jail where she has been held for eight months in solitary confinement.
Price appeared before the life sentence review commission in the top security jail two weeks ago.
Her legal team are arguing that by continuing to imprison her, without charge, the British government is acting illegally.
The commission is due to announce its decision on the fate of the North’s most famous female republican within days.
The 57-year-old mother of two was arrested and charged with holding a statement for a masked Real IRA man at an Easter commemoration in Derry in April.
She was granted bail by the court but Secretary of State, Owen Paterson, then withdrew her licence and returned Price to prison. Her lawyer claims he’d no legal right to do so.
A lengthy hunger-strike and force-feeding in Brixton prison had left Price gravely ill. Weighing only five stone and suffering from tuberculosis and anorexia, she was released on licence in 1980.
Weeks later, she was granted the royal prerogative of mercy. But the British now claim to have lost Price’s pardon.
Solicitor Peter Corrigan said: “The royal pardon my client received wiped the slate clean so she couldn’t be returned to jail on the basis of previous offences.
“Owen Paterson didn’t have the power to send her back to prison. We’ve repeatedly asked the NIO to produce the pardon which would free her.
“They’ve told us it’s probably been shredded. This is all very convenient. Since this pardon hasn’t been produced, the lawful course of action is for Marian Price to be released immediately.”
In an interview from behind bars last month with the Sunday World, Price spoke of the toll solitary confinement had taken on her health.
Her hands and arms were covered in psoriasis, brought on by stress. She has shed several stones in weight and is losing her hair. She spoke of the “mind-numbing boredom” of isolation.
However, she refused to condemn dissident republicanism or ‘armed struggle’.
Price’s husband, Jerry McGlinchey, said his wife’s release was a human rights’ issue: “People don’t have to agree with Marian’s politics to see that what’s going on is wrong.
“The UN recommends that prisoners are held in solitary only in exceptional circumstances and for no more than 15 days. My wife has been held eight months in isolation in a male prison. We are meant to be living in a civilised state.”
Once a close associate of Gerry Adams, Price became disillusioned with Sinn Féin in the mid-1990s and joined the dissident political group, the 32 County Sovereignty Movement.
With her sister Dolours and Gerry Kelly, now a senior Sinn Féin politician, Price was part of an IRA team which planted four bombs in Britain, including one at the Old Bailey. Around 200 people were injured, mainly with flying glass. One man died of a heart attack.
January 9, 2012
________________
This article appeared in the January 8, 2012 edition of the Sunday World.
Suzanne Breen
Sunday World
18 Dec 2011
**Via Newshound
Old Bailey bomber, Marian Price, has defiantly refused to condemn the dissident republican campaign despite spending seven months in solitary confinement in jail.
The North’s most high-profile female republican revealed the terrible toll her time in isolation in Maghaberry prison has taken on her physical and mental health.
But in an exclusive interview from behind bars with Sunday World, she wouldn’t condemn dissident republicanism or ‘armed struggle’.
“I remain a proud and unrepentant republican. I make no apology for that,” she said.
Price claimed as long as Britain remained in the North, “Irish people have a right to resist that occupation”.
Once a close associate of Gerry Adams, she became disillusioned with Sinn Féin in the mid-1990s and joined the dissident political group, the 32 County Sovereignty Movement.
Speaking from Maghaberry jail, she admitted only a tiny minority of people share her views which have little electoral support. “I accept what you’re saying but being a republican isn’t about entering a popularity contest – it never has been,” she claimed.
Price, a 57-year-old mother of two, has been held without charge in isolation in the all-male jail since Secretary of State Owen Paterson revoked her licence in May.
Along with her sister, Dolours, she became a household name when she went on a lengthy hunger-strike and was force fed in Brixton prison. Gravely ill with tuberculosis and anorexia, and weighing only five stone, Price was released on licence in 1980.
Weeks later, she was granted a royal pardon. Her lawyer claims this superseded the licensce, meaning she could never be returned to jail on the basis of her previous conviction.
Asked repeatedly in court to produce the pardon, the NIO says it has been “lost” and probably shredded. Price will appear before the life sentence review commission in Maghaberry on Wednesday.
Solicitor Peter Corrigan, will argue that she be freed immediately. “It’s very convenient that the only lost document in this case is the pardon,” he said. Corrigan revealed the UN special rapporteur on torture recently called for solitary confinement to be banned in all but “exceptional circumstances” and for it never to last more than 15 days.
“Marian Price has been in solitary seven months. This shouldn’t happen in a civilised country. Even those who vehemently oppose my client’s politics must realise this amounts to inhuman and degrading treatment,” he said.
There’s tight security on my visit to see Price. I’m photographed, fingerprinted three times, walked through an airport-type scanner, subjected to a body search and then the sniffer dog.
Price sits alone in a large, soulless room in an isolated part of the jail. Neatly dressed in a cream top and grey trousers, wearing a Celtic cross on a gold chain and pearl earrings, she seems more like a middle-class professional woman than a republican prisoner.
Calm, but clearly stressed, Price said: “I get three visits a week in Maghaberry. Those three hours’ conversation is the only contact I have with other human beings. Of course, it’s taking its toll on me.”
Her hands and arms are covered in psoriasis, brought on by stress. She’s shed several stones in weight and is losing her hair. “When I brush it every morning, it falls into the wash-hand basin in clumps,” she said.
The DUP claim she’s enjoying a life of luxury in the Co Antrim prison. “That’s ludicrous,” she said, describing in detail her existence in a small sparse cell and tiny exercise yard.
“My cell is 10 x 7 ft. It has a bed, a toilet, a wash-basin and a TV which I pay for. During the day, I have access to a recreation room – with a TV – and a shower room which was so filthy I’d to clean it myself before using it.”
The perimeter of her exercise yard measures just 85 paces and is surrounded by a 25-ft high wall.
She speaks of the “mind-numbing boredom” of solitary. She’s allowed only two books a week. She reads Swedish crime writer Stieg Larsson’s novels and surprisingly the right-wing British Daily Mail “for the word puzzles”.
She watches nature and current affairs’ documentaries on TV. Again confounding the Irish republican stereotype, her favourite programmes are the English period dramas ‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘The House of Elliott’ – “I love the fashion, especially the hats and the coats with the embroidered sleeves!” she declares.
She praised the female prison officers who are nearly all from the unionist community: “Bar a few, they’ve been lovely and many have been very kind. In a different life, we’d be friends. But the reality in Maghaberry is I’m the prisoner and they’re my jailers.”
With her sister Dolours and Gerry Kelly, now a senior Sinn Féin politician, Price was part of an IRA team which in 1973 planted four bombs in Britain, including one at the Old Bailey. Around 200 people were injured, mainly with flying glass. One man died of a heart attack.
The sisters were arrested about to fly home from Heathrow. While on hunger-strike in Brixton jail, Price was force-fed 400 times over six months. That stopped when a doctor mistakenly put the tube into her lung and she lost consciousness and nearly died.
“The moment I was imprisoned in Maghaberry, in my head I was instantly back in jail in England. I was institutionalised again. It was like the last 30 years didn’t exist. I’d got married and had two daughters but it was as if that hadn’t happened and I’d never had a life beyond prison walls.”
Price is currently facing two charges relating to dissident activity – holding a speech for a Real IRA member at an Easter commemoration and allegedly providing a mobile phone for terrorist use.
She was granted bail on both charges. When asked if she regretted involvement with dissident republicanism, she replied: “I’m not whinging about either charge. Let justice take its course.
“If convicted, I’ll serve my sentence without complaint. But I object to being held as a political hostage without charge because of my past, not my present.”
She added: “I’m in Maghaberry because Gerry Adams as OC of the Belfast Brigade sent me to bomb Britain in 1973 when I was 19. But then my memory must be deceiving me. I must have the wrong man because Gerry Adams was never in the IRA.”
Price stressed that, unlike many Sinn Féin leaders, she’d never lie about her IRA past and was “very proud” of it.
Asked if she’d condemn dissident attacks, she replied: “The 1916 Proclamation upholds the right of Irish people to take up arms as long as Britain occupies Ireland. I stand by the Proclamation which hangs in Enda Kenny’s office.”
She’s even more uncompromising than her male comrades. When a Sinn Féin delegation, including MLAs Jennifer McCann and Raymond McCartney, visited Maghaberry, the men dissident prisoners met them.
Price refused: “The prison staff said, ‘Your friends are here to see you.’ I told them ‘These people are no friends of mine. If they try to visit me, lock me in my cell.’”
Price claimed the NIO wouldn’t have revoked her licence without approval from Sinn Féin and the DUP. “Sinn Féin might be hypocritical but I’m not. I wasn’t having them shedding crocodile tears over my case to appease their grassroots.”
December 18, 2011
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This article appeared in the December 18, 2011 edition of the Sunday World.
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