Ireland: Repression against the Prisoners’ Rights in Maghaberry Prison

The Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association (IRPWA) has reported on the struggle by the Irish republican prisoners in Maghaberry Prison. This prison is in occupied Ireland and the IRPWA define it as “one of the bastions of Mi5 control”, the Military Intelligence Sector 5, part of the British repressive forces. We have reported several times on the repression faced by the republican prisoners:

This time they are facing repression against their cultural identity. The Maghaberry Prison has banned Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) sports, traditional Irish sports part of the culture, identity and rights of the Irish republican prisoners. IRPWA call to resist this ban: “We ask ex-Republican POWs who served time in various prisons and where the camaraderie and banter and celebration of our Gaelic games and pastimes often helped them through their incarceration, to support current prisoners faced with this discriminatory punishment.” They see this attack as a “part of a wider crack down on Irish culture”.

They have also seen a ban against wearing GAA sports gear, as an attempt by “Mi5 to attempt to break down or weaken the resolve of the prisoners or as the pathetic, last desperate attempts to grasp on to some unionist supremacist hegemonic power, it should not be tolerated.”

At the same time the IRPWA states firmly that these attempts will not break the “spirits or the pride these prisoners have in their national sports or local or county teams.” Once more British authorities wants to suppress the Irish identity and rights, and above all, to suppress the Irish national resistance, bur instead, they face a larger denunciation and a strengthening of the will of struggle against their rule.