Free Eoin Rice Protest at Daíl Éireann

by Conor Cregan Fri Feb 20, 2004 17:45

We were unable to visit Eoin today in prison because of a suspect device found at the prison.

after 90 minutes of investigation by the Army bomb squad the waiting visitors were told to leave.

So we will meet at 6 pm at the prison, anyone who can make it will be appreciated.

by Anonymous Fri Feb 20, 2004 20:11

Eoin needs your support. Take 5 minutes and write to him at:-

Owen Rice,
Prisoner of conscience,
D-Wing, Limerick Prison,
Mulgrave Street,
Limerick.

by R Isible Fri Feb 20, 2004 20:19

Your own post uses both spellings. Which should be used if mail is to be delivered to him?

by ec Fri Feb 20, 2004 21:09

Onsky is another derivation in use by happy devoted subjects of BP Papa Noir

by Fintan Lane - CAWC Fri Feb 20, 2004 21:14

It's Owen, but he doesn't seem to mind being called 'Eoin'. Just don't write, 'Black Pope, D-Wing, etc.'.

Do write to him, and send a card if you don't have time to get a letter together. Our solidarity is essential, and the simple act of writing a letter is a serious contribution to keeping his spirits high.

by Justin Morahan - Peace People Sat Feb 21, 2004 11:23

He told me he uses both forms

by Conor - Shannon Peace House Sat Feb 21, 2004 15:46

Three of us went in to visit Owen today, he is in good spirits but says he is low in energy.( only to expected as he is now in to his ninth day on hungerstrike)

Owen is locked in his cell for 23 hours a day now and food is weighed before and after it is put in his cell to monitor his intake.He has asked the prison guards to use a gold scales to allow for the weight of the steam escaping from the food.The prison staff are now considering serving the food in a plastic bag.

Owen's legal team have now started the ball rolling on getting his case heard in the High Court.

Funds are needed to help pay for Owens legal team etc, For more information please ring 085 7395288.

by iosaf mac diarmada Sat Feb 21, 2004 18:26

First off, Eoin you have my support "with reservations",
I think it is quite clear that you are the subject of victimisation. However, I am not convinced that your present course of action is justifiable or correct. It has caused me a lot of troubling thought, I first addressed Fintan as "prisoner of conscience" last year, and with that in mind suggested in a comment some time ago that you ought be addressed as such. Like many other protesters, I hope someday to meet and to talk and to listen to you. But since your decision to start a hunger strike has become "public news", and many of us knew before it was made public, the address of "prisoner of conscience" changes it's flavour.
The longer you stay in fast, the more likely you are to become a prisoner of your own conscience. I am of the opinion, that the present judicial system in Ireland under the current minister will not quickly entertain any reprieve of your sentance. And a short consideration of previous "hunger strikers attempts to pressure Mc Dowell" will show I'm probably right. So, it would appear this "fast" will last and last.
I thus call on all Eoin's friends & supporters, to clarify some very important questions:-

what are the hunger strikers _exact demands_.
& what is the exact reason why Eoin is presently imprisoned. Can he in this case and this case alone, be argued to be innocent and thus wrongfully imprisoned?

I, for one do not think that Eoin Rice will be thought any less of by his peers, friends, family, supporters and opponents were he to call off this hunger strike.

We are all prisoners of conscience, don't give yourself a death sentance for your beliefs.

& quite simply I would like to meet you someday, and find a healthy man of both mind and body. So the answers ought be forthcoming quickly, this is no game.

Meanwhile Eoin is quite definitely a victim of police harrasment and a biased judge and possibly (no offence intended) his own pride and stubborness or maybe his own resolve, I can not tell, I'm too far away.

Thank You All & Keep Him Safe = Get Him Out!

by wranboy Sat Feb 21, 2004 21:23

Some answers and thoughts.

1. He is in Jail because he refused to sign a bail bond which included an exclusion from Clare. His bail for the same alledged traffic/public order offence had been E5 up until the most recent hearing. It was changed without any explanation by the Judge (Mangan) and this change was not as a result of any request for the conditions to be changed from the gardai as in the recent CW5 / Mary Kelly Hearings where after pleadings for amendments to bail conditions from the defendants - the gardai requested that the now infamous 'clareban' be continued.

2. I don't think his Hungerstrike is a wise move either. His demand is for an explanation of why he is being banned from an entire county without explanation. I think his demand is reasonable but this is not the wisest way to pursue it. Getting into a higher court and testifying in full health would seem to me a better idea.

3. I would venture to say that the reason for his 'clareban' (and the original arrest) is that he is the loudest (bar none) anti war protester that exists in Ireland. He disrupted the FF ard fheis sonically more or less single handedly and there was no gentlemanly politeness in the way that he did it. He was also acting as an organiser for the last 'blocade' of Shannon. He has also endeavoured to support the CW5 and Mary Kelly in every way possible and I have no doubt that he is closely associated with these people in the minds of the 'powers that be'. Bush is coming to Clare soon. 2+2=4.

by Damien Moran Sat Feb 21, 2004 21:54 dbamoran at hotmail dot com

When 4 ploughshares activists and myself entered Limerick prison on February 3rd, 2003 last after our disabling of a US Navy War plane at Shannon Airport, we fasted for 5 days. We gave the governor at definite period of time when the fast would end and told him that it was spiritually rather than politically motivated. There seems to be quite a big difference with Eoin/Owen’s situation as his hunger strike is to date indefinite. I think his motivation and demand is inherently clear from the ridiculous mature of the bail condition imposed. I’m sure Owen/Eoin would call his hunger strike off if the bail condition was revised, scrapped. Is there any clarification of when the High Court challenge should take place? Some of us could organise a vigil on the morning of the hearing.

1) www.ploughsharesireland.org

2)http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?convert_dates=true&time_posted_upper_limit=04+Feb+03&time_posted_lower_limit=3+February+2003

3)http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=63496

Let’s provide solidarity in anyway we can with Eoin/Owen: Letters to Owen/Eoin/Governor, Political representatives, Media Outlets, Financial Assistance, Vigils, etc.

Owen/ Eoin Rice,
Mulgrave Street,
Limerick Prison,
Limerick City

Hope the following links, etc. clarify Owen/Eoin’s situation somewhat.

1} I believe the original charge resulted from Dec. 6th weekend at Shannon Airport. The Shannon Court Report below has some useful background info.

http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=62665&time_posted_upper_limit=1071205200&time_posted_lower_limit=1071118800

2} Shannon Court Report. Eoin Rice and other cases.
by Court Reporter Friday, Feb 13 2004, 6:51pm

Judge loses the plot after being asked to excuse himself from case.

http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=63409&time_posted_upper_limit=1076734800&time_posted_lower_limit=1076648400


3} Irish Anti - War activist begins hunger strike in Limerick Prison.
by paul o toole Tuesday, Feb 17 2004, 10:56pm

http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=63475&time_posted_upper_limit=1077080400&time_posted_lower_limit=1076994000

4} Article posted by Edward Horgan, Peace and Neutrality Alliance [email protected] address: Limerick phone: 086-2380911
on Wednesday, Feb 18 2004, @ 5:57pm

Eoin Rice v Judge Mangan, the Banner Judge

http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=63489

5} News on a Belfast Hunger Strike, started on Feb. 16th

http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=63431&time_posted_upper_limit=1076907600&time_posted_lower_limit=1076821200

Hope to see Owen/Eoin out and about soon again

by Damien Moran Sat Feb 21, 2004 22:04 dbamoran at hotmail dot com

Wranboy wrote:
"He (Owen Rice) is in Jail because he refused to sign a bail bond which included an exclusion from Clare. His bail for the same alledged traffic/public order offence had been E5 up until the most recent hearing. It was changed without any explanation by the Judge (Mangan) and this change was not as a result of any request for the conditions to be changed from the gardai as in the recent CW5 (Catholic Worker 5) / Mary Kelly Hearings where after pleadings for amendments to bail conditions from the defendants - the gardai requested that the now infamous 'clareban' be continued".

Yes Mary Kelly's application for bail amendment was refused but requests for bail condition amendments for the Catholic Worker 5 have not been made /heard before the court yet.
They will be this Monday, February, 23rd at 10am, Court 25.
Please see link for invitation to show solidarity with Ploughshares defendants journeying towards trial at Dublin's Four Courts this Monday morning, February 23rd, 10am vigil alongside main entrance.

CW5 Update & Lenten Campaign:

http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=63496

by Justin Morahan - Peace People Sun Feb 22, 2004 15:52

URGENT

18 February 2004
To: Mr Michael Mc Dowell, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
Dáil Éireann
Dublin



RE: HUNGER STRIKE IN LIMERICK JAIL OF PEACE ACTIVIST EOIN RICE, SUBJECT OF PREVIOUS ALLEGED ASSAULT BY GÁRDAÍ IN GALWAY, ABOUT WHICH I WROTE TO YOU ON 29 JANUARY


Dear Minister

Further to my letter of 29 January 2004, appended below, and your acknowledgement (3 February 2004) per Ms Paula M.McPartlin and reply (17 Februry 2004) per Ms Grainne M Sullivan, I wish to inform you that Mr Rice is now in Limerick jail and has been on hunger strike since last Saturday in protest against District Justice Joseph Mangan's having changed his bail conditions from 5 euro to a complete ban from entering any part of County Clare - a condition Mr Rice will not accept.
I believe that the matter of Mr Rice's treatment by Gárdaí in different jurisdictions is now a matter of the most serious kind that cannot await the normal process of complaint suggested in your letter.

I believe that the question of Mr Rice's alleged assaults by Gárdaí has now taken on an urgent character that calls for your personal intervention.

I am asking you to make this personal intervention now as a matter of the gravest urgency.

Sincerely yours

Justin Morahan
Dublin Representative of the Peace People


29 January 2004
Mr Michael McDowell
Minister for Justice
Dáil Éireann

Dear Mr McDowell

I write in connection with reports that have been published on Indymedia Ireland concerning an anti-war activist, Mr Eoin Rice.
According to these reports, Mr Rice was assaulted while in Garda custody in the non-public area of Mill Street Garda station in Galway on Saturday, 17January last, where he was allegedly swung by the hair in a wide arc and so banged against a concrete wall, kicked, and also struck repeatedly on the
legs with a telescopic baton with a large ball-bearing on the top - while lying on the ground and handcuffed behind his back. It is also stated in the report that a plain clothes male stood on his neck for two minutes, cutting
off his breath until he (Mr Rice) felt his head was splitting from the pressure. While these atrocities were allegedly carried out by
plainclothes men, it is reported that up to twelve uniformed Gardai stood around watching.
Mr Rice demanded to see a doctor afterwards and was sent to Galway hospital.
An Indymedia Ireland picture shows a close-up of a part of his head with an apparent wound.
The Irish Times reported on Monday, 19 January, that the Gardai in Galway said that whatever injuries Mr Rice sustained happened while he was resisting arrest.
As you may understand, I feel outraged that this could have happened in apolice station in the Irish Republic.
The alleged remark of the arresting officer - "You've had your fun, now we're going to have ours, and there's no-one here to see you now" - makes the alleged atrocities even more outrageous.

I am requesting you, as a matter of urgency, to appoint an independent Ombudsperson to have this matter and any other similar reports of Garda atrocities against handcuffed people held in confinement, or others,
thoroughly investigated.


I am forwarding Mr Rice's own account, as published in the Indymedia Ireland
report, as an attachment.

Sincerely yours

Justin Morahan
Dublin Representative of the Peace People

by pc Mon Feb 23, 2004 12:05

but we shouldn't make one either should be about the use of shannon etc not him


at the end of the day its all about publicity ,well you could causlosly call it that but that what all hunger strikes are about .....