New Events

International

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Shakespeare Set to Be Decolonised at His Own Birthplace Sun Mar 16, 2025 11:00 | Sallust
Shakespeare's Birthplace Trust and woke academics are "decolonising" the Bard by downplaying his genius, linking his legacy to white supremacy and scrubbing "offensive" language from its collections.
The post Shakespeare Set to Be Decolonised at His Own Birthplace appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link German Political Establishment Responds to Trump with Idiotic Constitutionally-Anchored Pledge to De... Sun Mar 16, 2025 09:00 | Eugyppius
The German political establishment has responded to Donald Trump with an idiotic constitutionally-anchored pledge to deindustrialise in the next 20 years. Could Friedrich Merz be more inept, laments Eugyppius.
The post German Political Establishment Responds to Trump with Idiotic Constitutionally-Anchored Pledge to Deindustrialise in the Next 20 Years appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link There?s No Such Thing as ?Green? Industry Sun Mar 16, 2025 07:00 | Ben Pile
The collapse of Swedish battery startup Northvolt shows once more that there is no such thing as 'green' industry, says Ben Pile. Industry needs lots of cheap energy ? something that China has and Europe doesn't.
The post There’s No Such Thing as ‘Green’ Industry appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Sun Mar 16, 2025 01:23 | Will Jones
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Have We Finally Reached Peak Woke? Sat Mar 15, 2025 17:51 | Will Jones
Have we finally reached peak woke? Have we developed a vaccine to the woke mind virus? Like a dying religion, it's certainly in retreat. But some disciples of Wokus Dei are still clinging on.
The post Have We Finally Reached Peak Woke? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?124 Sat Mar 15, 2025 05:56 | en

offsite link "Kristallnacht" against the Alawites in Syria Sat Mar 15, 2025 05:38 | en

offsite link Is Donald Trump managing the possible collapse of the ?American empire??, by Thi... Tue Mar 11, 2025 06:59 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?123 Fri Mar 07, 2025 14:41 | en

offsite link Arab League summit for Gaza Fri Mar 07, 2025 11:53 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Government failing on renditions as world marks 8 years of Guantánamo

category international | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis author Monday January 11, 2010 11:48author by Amnesty International - Ireland - Amnesty International Report this post to the editors

Marking the eighth anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo Bay detention centre, Amnesty International Ireland has criticised the Government’s lack of progress in carrying out a promised review of the law on searching suspected renditions flights.

Marking the eighth anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo Bay detention centre Amnesty International Ireland has criticised the Government’s lack of progress in carrying out a promised review of the law on searching suspected renditions flights. However the organisation welcomed again the decision last September to accept two former Guantánamo detainees.

Colm O’Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland said: “In November 2008 the Government announced it was setting up a Cabinet committee to review the law and ensure Gardaí had the power to board and search suspected rendition flights. At the time the Government said this was an indication that it was, “taking human rights seriously”.

“Over a year later however there is still no sign of this review and the committee has only met twice. Last month activists at Shannon announced that five planes previously connected to renditions flights had used Shannon Airport since March 2009, some of them on multiple occasions. There is a widespread belief that President Obama ended the practice of renditions. This is not the case. The CIA is still permitted to carry out rendition operations.

“The issue of Ireland’s role in rendition flights, like Guantánamo, has not gone away. In the cases of four men, Abu Omar, Khaled al Maqtari, Khaled el Masri and Binyam Mohamed CIA agents used Shannon Airport as a launching pad for rendition operations.

“The Taoiseach must announce when the Cabinet review will finally take place. He must ensure that it is comprehensive and commit to making the findings public.”

The organisation also renewed its call on US President Barack Obama to close Guantánamo. Last January President Obama signed an executive order committing his administration to closing the detention facility “no later than a year from the date of this order” but in November he admitted the US would not meet this deadline.

“Guantánamo is the most visible symbol of a system of prisons, secret detention sites and renditions networks that made possible the illegal kidnapping and imprisonment of hundreds of people,” said Mr O’Gorman.

“The closure of Guantánamo would mark a clean break with the previous administration. Those prisoners still held there should be given a fair, independent and impartial trial or released.”

Amnesty International Ireland again highlighted the valuable contribution Ireland made to closing Guantánamo last year by accepting two cleared detainees for resettlement.

“Accepting those two men was a practical contribution by the Irish Government to the shutting down of Guantánamo. We would hope that other countries, particularly EU member states, will follow Ireland’s example in the year to come,” said Mr O’Gorman.

Related Link: http://www.amnesty.ie/amnesty/upload/images/amnesty_ie/campaigns/War%20on%20Terror/Breaking%20the%20Chain.pdf
author by Seán Ryanpublication date Mon Jan 11, 2010 15:09author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Well done to Amnesty for this.

There is no need at all for the government to review our laws or police powers, both already facilitate the upholding of Irish and international law insofar as kidnapping, torture and other crimes against humanity are concerned. Indeed our government should remove themselves from this particular question altogether as they have no business whatsoever in effectively putting the Irish justice system through a version of extraordinary rendition, Irish style. To review Irish law and practice, there should at least have been some failure or shortcoming to fix - the review itself, being the mechanism that has the Irish justice system locked up tight, is seemingly both the sickness and the cure. It is preposterous.

As for Obama ending extraordinary rendition, that too is a complete fabrication. It wasn't the American presidency who made extraordinary rendition a lawful entity in the US. It was the Supreme Court and it made this abomination a lawful practice decades ago.

Another thing that needs to come out in the wash is Blackwater, or whatever those goons are called these days. It is now known that this mercenary group has intimate ties to the CIA. How many, if any, have been ferried through Irish airports, tooled up for and intent on butchering children?

author by Fred Johnstonpublication date Mon Jan 11, 2010 20:56author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The government, especially Fianna Fáil, are happy to read off figures indicating how much profit has been made from US military passing through Shannon, an airport that is otherwise going down the tubes. Local gombeen-think believes the US is saving ould' Ireland once again. Political whoring is now so commonplace in Irish political life that we virtually can take it for granted that it has replaced democracy. Fianna Fáil couldn't get rid of the US presence if it wanted to: the Yanks would immediately threaten some sort of bullying sanction, such as pulling out certain industries and so on. C an you imagine Cowen trying to face that down? It would also take a certain moral and ethical sense, which the Greens threw away as soon as they were shown a government seat and Fianna Fáil never had. It would also take a strong sense of patriotism and of who we are as country, but we possess neither.

 
© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy