SAOIRSE32

U.S. Department of Justice

**Verbatim

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, June 13, 2008
WWW.USDOJ.GOV

NEW YORK- Michael J. Garcia, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Michele M. Leonhart, the Acting Administrator of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), announced that international arms dealer Monzer Al Kassar, a/k/a Abu Munawar, a/k/a El Taous, arrived in New York today after being extradited from Spain on federal terrorism charges. Al Kassar was extradited to New York for his participation in a conspiracy to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (the FARC) — a designated foreign terrorist organization — to be used to kill Americans in Colombia. Al Kassar’s co-defendants, Tareq Mousa Al Ghazi and Luis Felipe Moreno Godoy, were both previously extradited to New York from Romania to face the same terrorism charges. According to the superseding Indictment filed in Manhattan federal court:

Since the early 1970s, Al Kassar has been a source of weapons and military equipment for armed factions engaged in violent conflicts around the world. Some of these factions have included known terrorist organizations, such as the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF), the goals of which included attacking United States interests and United States nationals.

To carry out his weapons-trafficking business, Al Kassar developed an international network of criminal associates, including co-defendants Al Ghazi and Moreno Godoy, as well as front companies and bank accounts in various countries, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania. Additionally, Al Kassar has engaged in money-laundering transactions in bank accounts throughout the world to disguise the illicit nature of his criminal proceeds.

Between February 2006 and May 2007, Al Kassar agreed to sell to the FARC millions of dollars worth of weapons, including thousands of machine guns, millions of rounds of ammunition, rocket-propelled grenade launchers (RPGs), and surface-to-air missile systems (SAMs). During a series of recorded telephone calls, e-mails, and in-person meetings, Al Kassar agreed to sell the weapons to two confidential sources working with the DEA (the CSs), who represented that they were acquiring these weapons for the FARC, with the specific understanding that the weapons were to be used to attack United States helicopters in Colombia. (more…)

BBC
13 June 2008

**Links and a video clip onsite

Voters in Ireland have rejected the European Union’s Lisbon reform treaty in a referendum by 53.4% to 46.6%.

The Irish No campaign was a broad-ranging coalition

The vote is a major blow to leaders in the 27-nation EU, which requires all its members to ratify the treaty. Only Ireland has held a public vote.

The European Commission says nations should continue to ratify the treaty, designed to streamline decision-making.

Irish PM Brian Cowen said he respected the vote but it had caused a “difficult situation” that had “no quick fix”.

Leaders of the No campaign said the vote was a “great result for Ireland”.

An earlier, more wide-ranging EU draft constitution failed after French and Dutch voters rejected it in 2005.

‘Uncharted territory’

The Irish No campaign won by 862,415 votes to 752,451. Turnout was 53.1%.

At the end of the day, for a myriad of reasons, the people have spoken
Dermot Ahern, Justice Minister

Mr Cowen said: “The government accepts and respects the verdict of the Irish people.”

He said he would work with other EU leaders to try to find an “agreed way forward” but that the bloc was in “uncharted territory”.

“Ireland has no wish to halt the progress” of the EU, he said.

A referendum was mandatory in Ireland as the country would need to change its constitution to accommodate the treaty.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he had spoken to Mr Cowen and agreed with him that this was not a vote against the EU.

“Ireland remains committed to a strong Europe,” he said.

“Ratifications should continue to take their course.”

France and Germany quickly issued a joint statement expressing regret over the Irish result.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the UK would press on with ratification, saying: “It’s right that we continue with our own process.”

Spain has said a solution will be found but Czech President Vaclav Klaus said ratification could not now continue.

Mr Barroso said EU leaders would have to decide at a summit next week how to proceed.

He called for the EU to continue focusing on issues of interest to people like jobs and inflation, energy security and climate change.

But BBC Europe editor, Mark Mardell, says this is a multiple crisis for the EU - a crisis of rule change, of legitimacy and of morale.

In the end, he says, the Lisbon treaty could be declared dead: some parts of it would be implemented without a treaty, others abandoned, others put in a new treaty when Croatia joins the EU in a couple of years time.

Declan Ganley of the anti-treaty lobby group Libertas said: “It is a great day for Irish democracy.”

He added: “This is democracy in action… and Europe needs to listen to the voice of the people.”

The No campaign was a broad coalition ranging from Libertas to Sinn Fein, the only party in parliament to oppose the treaty.

Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Fein, said: “People feel secure at the heart of Europe, but they want to ensure there’s maximum democratic power.”

Confusion

Correspondents say many voters did not understand the treaty despite a high-profile campaign led by Mr Cowen, which had the support of most of the country’s main parties.

Jose Manuel Barroso said the EC respected the vote but had hoped for another outcome

Mr Cowen accused the No camp of “misrepresentation”, saying voters had voiced concern about “issues that clearly weren’t in the treaty at all”, the Irish Times reported.

The treaty, which is designed to help the EU cope with its expansion into eastern Europe, provides for a streamlining of the European Commission, the removal of the national veto in more policy areas, a new president of the European Council and a strengthened foreign affairs post.

The treaty was due to come into force on 1 January 2009.

Fourteen countries out of the 27 have completed ratification so far.

Just over three million Irish voters are registered - in a European Union of 490 million people.

Indymedia Ireland
12 June 2008

Dublin City Council officials have refused permission to the irish anti war movement to erect posters advertising a protest against the visit of George Bush to Belfast, due to take place this Monday June 16th.

The poster advertises the Belfast protest, which will take place at Belfast City Hall at 12.30pm on Monday June 16th and the details of buses that will travel from Dublin to the protest

In response to an email from the IAWM notifying the council of its intention to erect posters, the council replied with an email which stated

“Permission will not be granted to the erection of these posters as it is felt that it may be perceived offensive by members of the public”

The Irish Anti-War Movement regards this decision a completely unacceptable act of political censorship and intend to defy the Council ban and erect the poster anyway. The IAWM say that if there is any attempt to fine their organisation for erecting the poster they will refuse to pay the fine.

The IAWM will hold a street protest tomorrow, Friday June 13, at 12 midday at the GPO, where participants will have gags on their mouths to symbolise the attack on free speech by DCC. The IAWM will also hold a protest street meetings and public defiance of the poster ban on Saturday June 14th at 12am and 3pm at the GPO

This ban has to be seen in the wider context of several attempts by the Council since the huge anti-war protests in 2003 to ban posters advertising political meetings and demonstrations.

It is becoming increasingly clear that at very high levels in officialdom and government there is an agenda to suppress any political activity or protest that questions US foreign policy

The Irish Anti-War Movement has said it will not allow the government or authorities to silence anti-war protest in this country and will defy this ban regardless of the consequences and appeal to the public and all those who care about free speech to support them

Related Link: http://www.irishantiwar.org

By Tom Brady Security Editor
Independent.ie
Friday June 13 2008

ONE in 10 recruits now enlisting in the British army in Northern Ireland is from the Republic.

The numbers travelling across the Border to join have more than doubled in the past year, according to the British army’s recruitment office in the North.

The office refused to state exactly how many, but it is understood about 600 are recruited annually.

The British Army, in a statement, indicated that 10.5pc of enlistments in Northern Ireland were from the South.

This compares with 4.5pc the previous year and 3pc in 2005/2006.

The rise in recruits from the Republic was attributed by enlistment officers to economic conditions and a change in attitude in the South towards a career in the British army.

During the Troubles there were up to 30,000 British troops in the North, but in the wake of of the peace process, troop levels have fallen to 3,000.

Traditionally, a sizeable number of potential recruits, who are rejected here by the Defence Forces, then apply to join the British army. The Defence Forces also take in around 600 a year through competitions for the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service, which are generally over-subscribed.

The head of British army recruitment in Northern Ireland, Lt Col Dick Rafferty, said yesterday: “From 2003 onwards we have seen real growth, with those joining more than doubling in the last year.”

- Tom Brady Security Editor

Independent.ie
By Independent Digital staff and wires
Friday June 13 2008

Ireland has voted ‘No’ to the Lisbon Treaty with Taoiseach Brian Cowen likely to have some explaining to do when he meets his European counterparts in Brussels next week.

With almost 12% of results declared, the ‘no’ side is ahead by around 54% to 46%, despite all the main political parties campaigning for a ‘yes’.

The ‘no’ vote is in the majority in eight of the 10 constituencies to have so far reported their results.Tallies from the rest of the country also indicate that the ‘no’ side is ahead in most areas.

The swing towards the ‘No’ vote has taken many pundits by surprise with the euro falling to its lowest price against the dollar in over a month.

The failure of the treaty to pass a popular vote will throw the EU into doubt as the document needs to be ratified by all 27 member states in order to become law.

The people of Waterford are the latest to officially declare that they had rejected the treaty with 54 percent voting ‘No’ and 46 percent voting ‘Yes’.

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern has already officially conceded that the treaty has failed to impress Irish people. “It looks like this will be a ‘no’ vote,” he said. “At the end of the day, for a myriad of reasons, the people have spoken.”

The official result is expected later this afternoon though the current strength of the ‘No’ vote is unlikely to change the final outcome.

The unofficial result is bad news for the EU as politicians across the continent admitted there was no ‘plan B’.

“If the Irish people decide to reject the treaty of Lisbon, naturally, there will be no treaty of Lisbon,” French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said yesterday

Ireland is the only country to put the treaty to a popular vote. The document includes many of the reforms rejected by Dutch and French voters in 2005.

Despite the many economic benefits which Ireland has enjoyed as a result of its membership to the EU, some politicians say the recent economic downturn is to blame.

“We believe people are upset are rising costs of food, mortgages and clothing. That we believe is as much a reason for today’s result as any public apathy towards Europe,” said one government minister.

The treaty, intended to make the EU stronger and more effective, according to its supporters which included all the main political parties in Ireland.

But while Ireland ranks in surveys as one of the EU’s most pro-European states, opponents have argued strongly that the treaty reduces small countries’ clout and gives Brussels new foreign and defence policy powers that undermine Ireland’s historic neutrality.

The treaty envisages a long-term president of the European Council of EU leaders, a stronger foreign policy chief and a mutual defence pact, and changes the rules for decision making.

Belfast Telegraph
Thursday 12, June 2008

Journalist and campaigner Eamon McCann is calling on the British authorities to investigate the arms firm Raytheon for war crimes.

Mr McCann was one of six Derry men acquitted yesterday of causing criminal damages at the company’s office in Derry in August 2006.

All six had admitted storming the Raytheon offices in Derry and throwing computers out of the windows, but said they did so to prevent innocent people from being killed by the Israeli military in Lebanon.

Speaking after yesterday’s verdict, Mr McCann said he believed the world would one day look back on the arms trade as current society looks back on the slave trade.

BBC
Thursday 12, June 2008

There were jubilant scenes in a Belfast court yesterday as six anti-war protesters were unanimously acquitted of destroying property belonging to multinational arms company Raytheon.

As the Crown Court jury of four men and seven women were led from Court 14 at the Laganside complex, the six Derry men and their supporters who had packed the public gallery clapped and cheered in appreciation of the not guilty verdicts.

The six, author and Belfast Telegraph columnist Eamonn McCann (65), from Westland Avenue, and his co-accused James Anthon Kelly, (47) of Rathkeele Way, Eamon O’Donnell (53), of Campion Court, Colm Donal Sarto Bryce (42) of Westland Avenue, Sean Heaton (35) of Circular Road and 42-year-old Kieran Vincent Gallagher of Craft Village, were each acquitted of causing criminal damage to the building and offices of Raytheon and an employee’s car on August 9 2006.

But McCann was convicted by a majority of 10 to one of stealing two computer disks belonging to the company but he walked free after Judge Tom Burgess imposed a 12 month conditional discharge.

Speaking outside the court, Colm Bryce declared that their actions had been ” completely vindicated” and that the verdicts were “very welcome to ourselves and our families” but that he wanted to dedicate them to the bereaved families in Qana in the Lebanon who had been bombed by Israeli Forces using missiles made by Raytheon.

“This court has found, I believe that Raytheon are guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes in the Middle East and we feel vindicated in taking the action that we did,” declared the activist.

Standing alongside his co-accused, Mr McCann read from a prepared statement where he echoed the sentiments that the six “have been vindicated”.

He also called on politicians and citizens of Derry “to say in unequivocal terms that Raytheon is not welcome in our city.

“We have not denied or apologised for what we did. Personally speaking, and I believe I speak for all of us, it was the best thing i have ever done in my life,” declared Mr McCann.

Over four weeks the jury had heard that following repeated bombing of Lebanese property where numerous civilians died, on August 9 the anti-war protestors forced their way into the Raytheon plant just outside Derry and caused significant damage to their server and computers.

Belfast Telegraph
Thursday 12, June 2008

A senior civil servant has been suspended after accidentally leaving top-secret intelligence files on a train.

Secret intelligence reports about the activites of al-Qa’ida in Pakistan and Afghanistan and the insurgency in Iraq were left on the train by the senior intelligence officer based at the Cabinet Office, it emerged yesterday.

Secret intelligence reports about the activites of al-Qa’ida in Pakistan and Afghanistan and the insurgency in Iraq were left on a train by a senior intelligence officer based at the Cabinet Office, it emerged yesterday.

The two sets of documents, one marked “top secret”, were part of classified material sent to the Joint Intelligence Committee by the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and the Security Service (MI5). A passenger on a train from London Waterloo to Surrey found the orange cardboard envelope containing the papers abandoned on a seat on Tuesday.

A search for them had been launched by the Metropolitan Police but the passenger had already given them to the BBC. It broadcast details of the files yesterday as MPs voted on the Government’s contentious plans to raise the time limit that terror suspects can be held without charge from 28 to 42 days.

One of the reports, commissioned by the Foreign Office and the Home Office, was classified “UK top secret” and the pages were marked “For UK, US, Canadian and Australian eyes only”. Part of the report examined the infiltration of Pakistani security forces by al-Qa’ida sympathisers, Whitehall sources said.

The second document, a report on Iraq for the Ministry of Defence, examined the extent of the threat posed by insurgents and the capabilities of the Iraqi armed forces. According to Whitehall sources, the study would have played a part in deciding a timetable for the withdrawal of British troops from the country.

The reports were handed to Scotland Yard by the BBC last night. The senior officer who lost them was at work yesterday but, last night, the Cabinet Office said that he had been suspended from his job.

A spokesman for the Cabinet Office said: “He is a senior officer who worked on assessment for the JIC and had full authorisation to take the documents out of the building. There are procedures to ensure that such losses do not take place. There has been a breach of security and an investigation is now under way to find out why this happened.” There have been several government data and security blunders during the past seven months. On 20 November, computer discs holding personal information on 25 million people went missing from HM Revenue and Customs in Gateshead.

On 11 December, two more discs containing the details of 7,685 Northern Ireland motorists disappeared. On the same day, information about dozens of prisoners was mistakenly sent to a private business.

Details of three million driving test candidates went missing on 17 December. Two days later, a Royal Navy laptop holding information about 600,000 people was stolen.

Inside the intelligence world

*Joint Intelligence Committee

The JIC is the senior intelligence assessment organisation in the UK and briefs senior ministers. It also defines, for government approval, the priorities in the work of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), the Security Service(MI5), the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS).

*Officials in the JIC

Committee members include the heads of MI6, MI5, DIS,the assessment staff, representatives of the Foreign Office, the MoD and the Prime Minister’s adviser on foreign affairs.

*Secrecy of the lost documents

The two reports were marked “top secret”. But according to security sources, they did not contain information about the UK’s domestic security safeguards.

*The range of circulation of the documents

One of them, commissioned by the Foreign Office and the Home Office, was marked: “For UK, US, Canadian and Australian eyes only”. The second document examined the threat posed by Iraqi insurgents and the capabilities of the Iraqi army.

By Diarmaid Fleming
BBC NI Dublin correspondent
BBC
12 June 2008

An English businessman kidnapped in 1983 was held at gunpoint by an Irish soldier and a garda after a search party stumbled on the hideout where he was being held, a Dublin court has heard.

Don Tidey was giving evidence in the trial of Brendan McFarlane at the Special Criminal Court, who denies charges of unlawful imprisonment, possession of firearms and intent to endanger life in unlawful circumstances.

Mr McFarlane denies being part of a gang who held the former chairman of the Stewarts and Quinnsworth supermarket chains in Ireland.

The accused denies charges of possession of firearms, intent to endanger life and unlawful imprisonment.

Mr Tidey who is now aged in his early 70s, told the court he was driving his daughter Susan to school in November 1983 before driving to Belfast.

His son Alistair was following in another car close behind, when Mr Tidey said he stopped at what he thought was a garda checkpoint near his home in Rathfarnham.

A man dressed as a garda asked him who he was, and then ordered him from his car at gunpoint.

He was bundled into a car after a struggle, with his children left behind before they raised the alarm.

‘Exercising technique’

The supermarket executive described how he was beaten and sat upon by members of the gang when he was kidnapped.

Hooded for almost all his ordeal, he was eventually taken to a wooded hideout in woods in County Leitrim.

Chained for most of the time, he told the court how he washed when his captors threw what he believed was “bog water” over him, and was fed tea, bread, jam and occasionally soup.

He said he had military training and was familiar with “isometrics” - an exercising technique to strengthen muscles, which he practised to keep fit so he could escape if the chance arose.

Mr Tidey said he did not communicate with his kidnappers, and was forced to pose for a photograph with a newspaper.

They had instructed him to walk behind a gang member if the group had to move suddenly, a field manoeuvring technique he said he was familiar with from his own military experience.

On 16 December, over three weeks after he went missing, Mr Tidey said he heard voices from what turned out to be a garda and Irish Army search party.

As the gang hurriedly prepared to move, without warning, a gun-battle erupted, in which a garda and an Irish soldier died. Mr Tidey also heard a grenade explosion which surprised him.

“There was a blast of gunfire and then more gunfire and from that moment it became a battleground,” he said.

“Everyone (in the kidnap gang) made their own arrangements, including me. My arrangement was for me to hit the ground.”

“I rolled down an incline, and took account of my circumstances,” the businessman told the court.

“I looked up, and found myself looking into the muzzle of a weapon, close to my forehead,” he said.

‘Elite Task Force’

The gun was held by an Irish soldier, but because Mr Tidey was dressed in combat “field clothing” and was unshaven, the soldier did not believe who he was, and trained his automatic rifle on him.

He was marched across fields and lost his lower clothing when his boots got stuck in mud, ending up naked from the waist down and barefoot.

“By the grace of God and his mercy they didn’t pull the trigger,” he told the court.

After he was handed over to members of the garda elite Task Force, another detective “held a gun to my head to ascertain who I was,” said Mr Tidey.

His ordeal was not over. In the panic after the shoot-out, the kidnap gang hijacked a car.

As police questioned Mr Tidey to determine his identity, the escaping kidnap gang sped past, shooting wildly with automatic fire and wounding a soldier.

He said he believed the gunmen were not firing at anyone in particular, but shooting “to scatter” to enable their escape.

Mr Tidey was not cross-examined by the defence.

The court also heard from Mr Tidey’s daughter Susan, who he was leaving to school when he was kidnapped, and his son Alistair who was driving behind.

Both confirmed statements taken at the time of seeing their father struggling, and how they were left behind by the gang before raising the alarm.

Questioned by the defence, both confirmed that they believed at the time the men in the kidnap gang had accents from the south rather than the north of Ireland.

The trial continues.

BBC

The chairman of Irish broadcaster TG4, has accused senior NI civil servants of bias against the Irish language.

A row has broken out over alleged bias against the Irish language

It emerged after the publication of transcripts of an Ofcom conference in Belfast last week.

“The issue is a bias against the language at very senior levels in both DCAL and the senior civil service,” Peter Quinn said.

However, the permanent secretary of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure challenged him to produce evidence.

The row centres around £12m of funding for Irish language broadcasting granted by the British government under the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.

The money runs out in March 2009 and has not been renewed in the Programme for Government for the next three years.

Mr Quinn said: “The real problem with the funding for the Irish language lies in the senior ranks of the civil service, in DCAL and in the broader civil service.

However, Peter Sweeney from DCAL, said it was incumbent for “people who make statements like that to back it up with hard factual evidence.

“They should put up and they should shut up, because I think it is irresponsible behaviour.”

Meanwhile on Friday, Aodan MacPolin of Irish language group Ultach said it would be hard to prove such bias.

Mr MacPolin said how the bid to renew the funding would be pitched would have been up to the DUP Minister for Culture Arts and Leisure.

He said the decision on whether it would be included in the Programme for Government would have been made by the Minister of Finance, again a DUP member.

“So no matter what the civil servants might have recommended, you would imagine that the DUP, given their track record on their attitude to the Irish language, would have been hostile,” he said.

Mr MacPolin said the funding should have been renewed by the British government.

He said the language suffered from “institutional inertia”, not institutional bias.

Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill, 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1, Ireland
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Date: 11 Meitheamh / June 2008

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In this issue:

1. EU Tightening Grip - Ó Brádaigh calls for a Vote NO.
2. French threat shows true face of EU elite
3. Special Branch harass RSF No to Lisbon campaigners
4. RTÉ correspondent gave ‘misleading presentation’
5. Downing Street support for Cyprus reunification hypocritical - RSF
6. Bodenstown commemoration
7. RSF condemn Co Armagh raids
8. Protest Bush visit to Belfast
9. Iris Robinson subject of RUC/PSNI investigation over homosexuality remarks
10. Ex-UN rapporteur regrets ‘not saving Nelson’s life’
11. Paisley to be asked to retract false allegation
12. Human rights body tells UN of poor state of 26-County prisons
13. Human rights body tells UN of poor state of 26-County prisons

1. EU TIGHTENING GRIP - Ó BRÁDAIGH CALLS FOR A VOTE NO.

IN A statement on June 9, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, President Republican Sinn Féin, said that the EU was tightening its grip. “The Lisbon Treaty means, basically, more power to Brussels and less power to the State here,” he said.

He was addressing a meeting in Strokestown, Co Roscommon of Comhairle Chúige Chonnacht which is composed of delegates from all counties in Connacht and Longford.

He continued: “Lisbon is another step in the centralisation process of the EU. It is admitted to being 96% the proposed EU Constitution which was rejected by the people of France and of Holland in referendums.

“Now it is back as a ‘Treaty’ with no referendums at all except in the 26-County State. There will be no commissioner for five out of every 15 years and 60 more policy areas will lose the veto which was there since 1973.

“Germany’s say on the Council of Ministers will be doubled from 8% to 17%. France’s weight in decision making will go from 8% to 13% and that of Britain and Italy jump by half.

“It was a’ power grab’ by the big states for control of this new union. The voting weight of the State would be halved to just 1%.

“The European Defence Agency was being pushed centre stage to promote the European Arms Industry and endanger neutrality more than ever. We were being involved in the ‘proxy wars’ of the bigger states such as France’s defence of its interests in Chad.

“Ó Brádaigh urged Republican Sinn Féin members to push hard for a NO vote with posters and leaflets as well as canvassing support.”

2. FRENCH THREAT SHOWS TRUE FACE OF EU ELITE

ON June 10 Vice President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton said that the true face of the Euro political elite was shown by the threat issued by the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner to the Irish people that they would be “victims” in the event of a rejection of the Lisbon Treaty/EU Constitution.

He went on to say: “Such threats reveal the undemocratic nature of the agenda behind the Lisbon Treaty/EU constitution. Just as the Mr Kouchner’s own fellow citizens along with the Dutch rejected the EU Constitution in 2005 – the Lisbon Treaty is made up of 96 per cent of the content of the EU Constitution – the Irish people have every right to do the same.

“By voting no we will not be turning our back on Europe but rather we will be giving a voice to the hundreds of millions of people denied a vote and in the case of the French and Dutch whose vote against the EU Constitution in 2005 was ignored by the EU political establishment

“By voting No to Lisbon we are saying no to the creation of an undemocratic superstate, increased militarisation, the further erosion of neutrality, the privatisation of public services and the subversion of the rights of working people.”

Separately, the Unite union, which has 60,000 members, called on members to reject the treaty. Irish regional secretary Jimmy Kelly said there was an obligation on members to the hundreds of thousands of workers across Europe “to push as hard as we can to defeat the Lisbon Treaty and secure a better deal for working people”.

3. SPECIAL BRANCH HARASS RSF NO TO LISBON CAMPAIGNERS

THE 26-COUNTY SPECIAL BRANCH singled out two members of Republican Sinn Fein on May 31 for harassment at the GPO in Dublin’s O Connell St as they handed out leaflets calling for a No vote in the Lisbon referendum. In a statement the Vice President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton described this as an attack by the 26-County state on the right to free speech.

“This is just one example of the type of harassment members of Republican Sinn Féin members face at the hands of the of the 26-County state and its agents on an on-going basis as they go about their normal political activities. Coming as it does in the middle of the Lisbon Treaty/EU Constitution referendum such petty harassment of Republican Sinn Féin political activists shows the contempt the 26-County state holds for the democratic process and the right as set out in the UN Declaration of Human Rights to hold or express political views.” Des Dalton said. (more…)