Free Dessie O'Hare

national | miscellaneous | press release

Tuesday October 07, 2003 11:14

by Saoirse - Free Dessie O'Hare Campaign

Irish Republican Socialist Party
http://www.irsm.org/irsm.html

Statement on behalf of the Free Dessie O'Hare Campaign, delivered at
the Seamus Costello Commemeration

5 October 2003
Irish Republican Socialist Party
http://www.irsm.org/irsm.html

Statement on behalf of the Free Dessie O'Hare Campaign, delivered at
the Seamus Costello Commemeration

Desmond O'Hare was born on 26 October 1956 and comes from a staunch
Republican family. Dessie's grandmother did six months in Holloway
Gaol for "keeping Republicans". His father and six of his uncles were
interned between 1940 and 1944. One uncle died while interned on the
Isle of Man.

Dessie became active in the Republican struggle from the age of 16
and one of his Officers Commanding in the IRA was John Francis Green,
later assassinated by Captain Robert Nairac.

Dessie was jailed for life in 1988 and is currently the O/C of the
INLA prisoners in Castlerea Prison. He has endorsed and fully
accepted the INLA ceasefire. That statement said among other things:

"That the conditions for armed struggle do not exist".

"We acknowledge and admit faults and grievous errors in our
prosecution of the war".

"Innocent people were killed and injured and at times our actions as
a liberation army fell far short of what they should have been. For
this we as Republicans, as Socialists, and as Revolutionaries do
offer a sincere, heartfelt, and genuine apology".

Organisations which are on ceasefire are entitled to the early
release of its members under the Good Friday Agreement, which says
that all political prisoners convicted of offences committed before
April 1998 should be released. Dessie O'Hare was not released.

The Irish government has refused to free him in contravention of the
Good Friday Agreement even though Dessie was a leader of the INLA at
the time of the kidnap. Indeed the former Minister for Justice,
Equality, and Law Reform, Mr John O'Donoghue, has publicly
stated, "He is a qualifying prisoner".

The GFA in its entirety includes the early release of 'qualifying
prisoners' meaning those prisoners whose organisations
are 'maintaining a complete and unequivocal cease-fire'. Dessie
O'Hare is such a prisoner who has been denied the benefits of the
early release scheme as laid down in Annex B, Section 2 of the
Agreement which the Irish electorate voted for.

Dessie has been demonised by the media and by certain politicians who
labelled him the "Border Fox". He has been seen by experts at the
request of the Irish government in an attempt to keep him imprisoned
on the grounds of his mental state. They could find no such grounds
for his continuing incarceration but this was an attempt to emulate
the tactics of Stalinist USSR in labelling opponents of that
regime 'mad'.

Dessie's "crime", if 'crime' it was, was to be an active Republican.
His co-accused, Edward Hogan and Fergal Toal, have already been
released under the Agreement even though they were convicted of the
same offence.

Dessie is being victimised, discriminated against, and demonised by
the state authorities. And yet his activities were no different from
those of hundreds of others released under the GFA. We will, over the
coming weeks, be stepping up our campaign, where pickets and protests
will be placed on constituency offices and private residences of
those politicians who are charged with enacting the Agreement in its
entirety but who have failed to acknowledge the democratic will of
the people.

Dessie O'Hare is no different from hundreds if not thousands of
Republicans. He played his part in the struggle. It is now time he
was released. The governments started releasing the first POWs under
the terms of the GFA four years ago and Dessie is beginning his 24th
year behind prison bars. Dessie has been in jail continuously since
1979 (with one year's exception, 1987) and in all of them 23 years he
hasn't been given a single days temporary release despite many family
tragedies including the death of his father (RIP).

The case of Dessie raises issues over and above either the
personality or deeds of Dessie O'Hare. Fundamentally it goes to the
heart of the Good Friday Agreement. We in this campaign have been
skeptical about that Agreement but we say now implement not just the
spirit but also the letter of the GFA. Carry out the wishes of the
Irish people and release Dessie O'Hare now!!!

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Free Dessie O'Hare Campaign
http://www.irsm.org/irsp/free_dessie/