IRELAND Dutch complicity with British repression ON OCTOBER 21, the Dutch Supreme Court ruled that Brendan McFarlane and Gerry Kelly, two escapees from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison, could be extradited. (1) In effect, it put the decision in the hands of the minister for justice.
Because of the court's recommendation that the minister seek guarantees that the prisoners would not be ill-treated, it was generally expected that the actual handing over of the two could be delayed. However, the minister announced within a matter of weeks that the two would be turned over to the British authorities. It is urgent that there is an international protest against this decision. Letters and telegrams can be sent to Korthes Altes, Ministry for Justice, PO Box 20301, 2500 EH Den Haag, The Netherlands.
The following article is from the November 28 issue of Klassenstrijd, the paper of the Dutch section of the Fourth International. KAREL TEN HAAF
The two IRA men arrested in the Netherlands, Gerry Kelly and Brendan MeFarlane, can be handed over to the British authorities, according to the decision of the Supreme Court. The defence's political objections were rejected.
Of course, the court advised the minister of justice to ask for guarantees from Britain that Kelly and McFarlane would be treated humanely. But the ministers rejected this advice.
In the parliament's standing committee on justice, a majority represented by the Christian Democrats and the [free-enterprise] Liberals agreed with the minister's decision.
Van Bennekom, Kelly and MeFarlane's lawyer, has instituted summary proceedings. In this way, he is trying to force the minister to ask for guarantees and to wait for a decision from the European Court of Human Rights on this affair.
In his presentation, Van Beenekom systematically pointed out the political character of the struggle the IRA is waging in the North of Ireland. The law on extradition includes a ban on extraditing people for political crimes. Britain called for extradition on the basis of alleged crimes committed by Kelly and McFarlane during their escape from the Maze prison on September 25, 1983. Mentioned in the extradition request were the murder of a guard and grievous bodily harm to four other guards, as well as wrongful imprisonment of some people.
As regards the alleged murder of a guard, the facts are clear. The autopsy report shows that the guard died from a hart attack. As a man with serious coronary problems, he was in fact unsuited to the job.
As for the charge of causing grievous bodily harm, from the statements of three of the four wounded guards there is no proof of any kind that either Kelly or McFarlane caused these wounds. In the case of the fourth guard, there is evidence that grievous bodily harm was inflicted on him by Kelly.
Did the British authorities in their extradition request refer to this as an attempted murder because this was the only case in which it could be shown that one of the two IRA men held in the Netherlands wounded a guard? The truth, however, is different from what the British authorities would have us believe.
The plan of the escape called for subduing people who jeopardized the breakout. Guard John Adams put the success of the escape in danger. So, he was subdued.
On the wrongful imprisonment of
1. See articles in 'International Viewpoint' No. 108, November 10, 1986.
International Viewpoint 8 December 1986
some people, the fact that this was necessary for the success of the escape is shown clearly by the unfolding of the operation. (This is recounted in the interview Brendan McFarlane gave to Derek Dunne in Amsterdam and which was published in the April issue of the Dublin Magazine Magill.)
"On Sunday, September 25, at 2.15 in the afternoon, Brendan McFarlane and two others walked into the nerve center, the "Circle" of H-Block 7. They were armed. The guards in A, B, C and D wings were overpowered. One of the guards made an attempt to push the alarm button, and was shot down. The guards were stripped and some of the prisoners put their uniforms on.
"McFarlane ran to the door marked 'guards' and was let through. The plan was to take over all the doors one after the other and station the IRA prisoners there dressed as guards. They seized a food delivery truck, and the plan was that men from the truck would take prisoner any guard who got in the way. In the place known as the Tally Lodge, however, there was too much coming and going of guards. One of them started blowing his whistle as TEP: he was running away. Two cars stopped in front of the truck. Skirmishes occurred and some guards were knocked down.
"The IRA prisoners pretended to give up. Tempers calmed. Then they stormed over the fence. In the confusion, the army was unable to fire on the fleeing men. Prisoners dressed as guards, and guards dressed in civilian clothing were running together. Cars were highjacked as soon as they reached the road. Nineteen escapees were almost immedi-
"Brendan McFarlane, dressed as a guard, led seven men to the road, commandeered three cars and rode away in the direction of Moira." [Retranslated from Dutch.]
That the escape was a political act is shown by the fact that the IRA men who escaped and managed to stay out of the hands of the police all continued the struggle against the imperialist yoke of Britain. Their objective in escaping was to continue the struggle. It is disgusting to see a so-called unpartisan body such as the Supreme Court reject the argument of the defence that this was a political case.
This false judgement stemmed from a political unwillingness to recognize the right of the Irish people to self-defence and therefore to condemn Britain's imperialist policy. The fact that the minister of justice eagerly took this golden opportunity to gratify a "friendly state" should surprise no one.
Although the Supreme Court did not want to recognize the offences as political, it was convinced that very rough treatment was in store for Kelly and MeFarlane. For that reason, it advised the minister to ask for special guarantees from the English authorities (without however specifying what these guarantees should be). The minister rejected this advice. Grave physical dangers facing Kelly and McFarlane
This recommendation to get guarantees about the treatment of the IRA men from the British FROM JIMMY BURNS' LETTER: WHEN I was brought back to the Maze with the other recaptured prisoners, we were met at "reception" by the guards. While we were taken out of the prison van one by one, we were set upon by various guards with drawn truncheons. They systematically clubbed us to the ground. Others tried to set German Shepherd dogs on us, and then pulled them back at the last minute, just before the beasts got a chance to bite us. I was beaten over my head, neck, arms, back and legs with truncheons and repeatedly punched and kicked. Then I was dragged to the reception room, where I was verbally abused and threatened with further punishment, and even with death.
That afternoon, I was beaten again, but not so hard, because the prison doctor and the head of the medical service were present. After these two had had the nerve to "search" me, I was taken to the punishment cell. Before being locked in, I was beaten again. My head was repeatedly banged against an iron barrier and I was again kicked and punched. That is just a brief resume. You might object that tempers were heated and emotions were running high. But all this happened six days after the escape. Until that time, the police had held us in custody. The authorities and the guards made no secret of the fact that they hold Brendan McFarlane responsible for everything that happened during the escape. And they make even less attempt to conceal that they would give him much worse treatment. The beating we got would pale by comparison!
Therefore, I again appeal to you to do everything possible to get the judges to review their decision to hand over Brendan McFarlane, if only for humanitarian reasons. [ Retranslated from the Dutch]. D authorities did not come out of the blue. Immediately after the initial decision on the case by a local Amsterdam court on March 25, 1986, Irish Republican prisoners in the Maze prison started a letter-writing campaign to warn the outside world of the grave physical dangers facing Brendan McFarlane and Gerard Kelly if they were handed over to the British authorities. Special attention was called to the position of McFarlane, who was seen as the brains behind the escape.
These letters were not allowed out by the prison authorities. They were written on cigarette paper and
In April, Jimmy Burns wrote from the Maze prison in the North [See box]. He is one of the 38 political prisoners who escaped from this prison on September 25, 1983. He was one of those who were almost immediately recaptured.
But humanitarianism is an unknown concept for the minister. That is why Van Bennekom initiated summary proceedings to force the minister to wait for a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights. On Thursday, November 20, the European Court decided not to ask the Dutch government to postpone the extradition. The court wants to wait for the decision in the summary proceedings, which is expected for November 25. Moreover, the court claims that there is insufficient evidence to suppose that the IRA men would be subjected to ill treatment in British prisons.
Van Bennekom's response to the ruling was as follows: "The meaning of this decision is limited. The complaint as such was not rejected. The practical importance of the ruling is that since the court at the moment sees no reason to intervene, it is not likely that in a short time it will seen reasons to."
The European Commission is to take up this case on December 1. In the Standing Committee on Justice, a majority made up of Liberals and Christian Democrats are in agreement with the minister. The PvdA [Labor Party] and the PPR and PSP [small "far left" parties] are considering the possibilities for putting the case on the agenda of parliament. As we go to press, nothing has yet been decided. The PvdA leader Maarten van Traa has said: "In any event, we are not happy about this. I think that a formal question will be put to parliament.
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