Aiden Hulme Repatriation Picket

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | event notice Thursday April 13, 2006 13:12 by Paul Doyle - The New Republican Forum: www.newrepublicanforum.ie

A picket calling for the immediate repatriation of Irish prisoner Aiden Hulme will be held outside the Department of Justice on Friday 21st of April 2006 from 5-6pm.

Aiden Hulme, pictured after his arrest.

For immediate release

Issued by the New Republican Forum, April 13th 2006

A picket calling for the immediate repatriation of Irish prisoner Aiden Hulme will be held outside the Department of Justice on Friday 21st of April 2006 from 5-6pm.

Aiden, 27, was imprisoned for alleged involvement in the 2000/2001 ‘Real’ IRA bombing campaign in London. Prior to his arrest and imprisonment he was involved in a motorcycle accident that left him with a severely injured leg. After the accident Aiden was receiving treatment in Belfast and his condition was improving. However, upon imprisonment in Britain’s notorious Belmarsh Special Secure Unit (SSU), Aiden’s medical condition began to deteriorate at an alarming rate. After long delays the Belmarsh authorities reluctantly acquired the services of a specialist to examine Aiden’s injured leg but after a brief examination the Belmarsh-appointed specialist informed him that the injured leg should be amputated. Aiden’s family and friends, disturbed by and suspicious of this opinion, immediately sought a second opinion.

After intensive and prolonged political lobbying by the Irish Political Status Committee and other groups an independent specialist was permitted to examine Aiden. After the examination the independent specialist deemed the limb “saveable” – contrary to the opinion of the prison-appointed specialist. However, the independent specialist insisted it was essential that Aiden receive appropriate medical treatment, warning he “feared the worst” if it was not forthcoming. Aiden underwent surgery, but due to continuing medical neglect he is now once again facing amputation. Several operations aimed at saving Aiden’s leg have also been cancelled by the prison authorities.

Not only is Aiden still being denied proper treatment but astonishingly, the Full Sutton prison authorities have decided to gradually withdraw his pain-killing medication on the grounds that the pain in his leg is “purely psychological”. The painkilling medication Aiden is receiving has also been called into question. He has been suffering from bouts of short-term memory loss which he believes are triggered by its use.
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SDLP leader Mark Durkan has contacted the British Home Office and the Department of Justice requesting that Aiden’s repatriation application be processed without delay. Sinn Féin General Secretary Mitchel McLaughlin has also called on the Irish Government to intervene immediately. He said: “Aiden Hulme’s application for repatriation to an Irish prison has been with Michael McDowell in the Irish Department of Justice since last September (2005). I call on Mr McDowell to process this application immediately so that Aiden Hulme can come back where he will be close to his family and receive the much needed medical attention that he is entitled to.”

Aiden, who is on 23-hour lock down, has instructed his legal team to initiate proceedings against HMP Full Sutton on account of the treatment meted out to him.

Pickets will also be held in London and Chicago – by the IPSC and the IRSM respectively – in support of Aiden’s repatriation campaign. Various other political and humantarian groups have spoken out about this case and an online petition has been lauched at: http://www.petitiononline.com/87bb92a/petition.html

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