Belfast protest against Basque extraditions

antrim | rights, freedoms and repression | event notice Tuesday September 29, 2009 16:31 by Emma Clancy - Don't Extradite the Basques Campaign

Join the protest when the hearings begin!

The Don’t Extradite the Basques Campaign is urging all those who support civil rights to join a protest next Monday against the Spanish government’s attempt to extradite Belfast-based Basque activists Iñaki de Juana and Arturo Beñat Villanueva. The protest will be held at 2pm outside the Laganside Courts in Belfast on Monday October 5, when the hearings begin. Come along and show your support!

29/09 PROTEST WHEN HEARINGS BEGIN!

The Don’t Extradite the Basques Campaign is urging the Belfast community to join a protest next Monday against the Spanish government’s attempt to extradite two Belfast-based Basque activists. The protest in support of Iñaki de Juana and Arturo Beñat Villanueva will gather at 2pm outside the Laganside Courts in Belfast on Monday October 5, when the hearings begin.

Andersonstown Sinn Féin representative Caoimhín Mac Giolla Mhín, who has been involved in solidarity work with the Basque Country for many years, will be speaking at the event in addition to human rights lawyer Pádraigín Drinan.

The protest coincides with the start of the extradition hearing of Arturo Beñat Villanueva, who has lived in west Belfast for more than five years. He is fighting extradition charges for allegedly being a member of the pro-independence political youth organisation Jarrai in the 1990s – when the youth movement was not outlawed until 2005 and not categorised as “terrorist” until 2007.

Former Basque prisoner Iñaki de Juana is fighting extradition from Belfast on similarly ridiculous charges – of somebody at a rally celebrating his release from prison last August, which he wasn’t at, allegedly saying “On with the ball”.

The Don’t Extradite the Basques Campaign has also welcomed the growing support for the two men as the list of signatories to a petition which demands that the British government reject the flawed extradition requests last week reached more than 1,000.

The campaign committee believes the growing support for Iñaki de Juana and Arturo Beñat Villanueva reflects the increasing awareness among the community of the fundamental legal flaws that form the basis of the Spanish authorities’ extradition warrants, and of the draconian Spanish ‘anti-terror’ legislation that they have been brought under.

These charges are politically unacceptable and we are urging all those who support basic civil rights to join us in the campaign against the extraditions by signing the petition and joining the protest when the hearings being next Monday.