Opposing the Extradition of Seán Garland July 20, 2011
Posted by Garibaldy in Seán Garland.trackback
As people may be aware, the extradition hearing against Seán Garland is being heard in Dublin this week. The campaign against the extradition continues, and support has been continuing to grow. Local government councils have been passing motions opposing the extradition on a regular basis, and at the recent ICTU conference, some of the leading trade unionists in the country voiced their total opposition to the extradition (link includes audio). The above photo is from a press conference held last week by the campaign to stop the extradition of Seán Garland. As can be seen from the photograph, there is a wide range of political opinion opposing the extradition. Over 60 members of the Oireachtas have pledged support to the campaign from every party and none. Ther press conference was addressed by a broad range of political figures, including members of all the left parties in the Dáil. As it stands now, the case is in the hands of the lawyers, but the campaign is not. People can still sign the petition, or contact their local representatives requesting support for the campaign to oppose the extradition.
The new edition of LookLeft also has extensive coverage of the case. I’ve extracted some material from two stories by Kevin Brannigan and Francis Donohoe below. Below, we can see the arrogance of the US authorities in their first attempt to extradite him using the unjust extradition treaty between the US and UK signed in 2003. Clearly they expected to be able to simply snap their fingers and have other governments do their bidding. This has continued to be the case, with them refusing to hand over details of the case against him to the Irish courts or to the defence team.
Garland would spend that night, not for the first time, in a Belfast prison cell. Taken to the court house the next morning Garland’s accusers lay in wait. “The cops kept telling me that the Americans were in the building and wanted to talk to me – I though wouldn’t answer, but it seemed as if the cops were getting all their instructions from these Americans.”
Luckily for Garland the law swung in his favour when the Judge demanded to see documents relating to the case from the United State’s side. “[The Americans] weren’t expecting that at all. They had been over confident telling the Judge the documents would be sent on to him in a few days. The Judge wasn’t impressed stating that they had supposedly been working on this case for over five years and they didn’t even have their documents present…I remember one woman running around, she was the one giving instructions wondering how to deal with this new situation. They hadn’t expected a Judge who would be able to think for himself.”
In 2009, outside the Workers’ Party’s head office,
“I was going into the Workers’ Party officein Mountjoy Square when suddenlyyou had this Starsky and Hutch episodewith cars pulling up and cops excitedlysurrounding myself and my wife. I was arrested and brought to Mountjoy Garda station – a warrant for my arrest had been issued by the High Court.”
“The Americans were asked to provide evidence a number of times and the answer was ‘piss off, the evidence will be presented in a Washington court. Well if someone like myself stands in a Washington court you can kiss me goodbye, this whole grand jury system is so uneven
there is no question of someone getting a fair crack of the whip.” He added; “They just see you as an obstacle and they, the CIA and US security
services, have carte blanche to do what they like.”
It’s worth reminding ourselves, amid the media spin and the smears, of how is behind this extradition request, and of how the Irish establishment responded.
Even more concerning is the nature of the legal machinations behind the threats to Garland. On May 19th 2005, a US grand jury court, based purely on information provided by the US intelligence services, issued the initial secret arrest warrant. This process was overseen
by Kenneth L. Wainstein, then a US Government Attorney, later George W. Bush’s Homeland Security Adviser. The second (2008) US warrant for Garland’s arrest was issued by then-US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Both these US officials have been strongly criticised for being part of a Government which ordered the invasion of Iraq based on “secret information” that turned out to be a total fabrication.In 2011 a secret US embassy cable published by Wikileak’s revealed contacts between US officials and the then-Justice Minister, Michael McDowell and senior figures in the Department of Justice, during 2005. In one cable McDowell states that the “Irish Government stood by to
do whatever the United States Government might request in terms of pursuing Sean Garland”, seemingly with little concern for the provision of evidence to back these allegations against an Irish citizen.
We must hope that the judge throws out the extradition request, but it is also essential to keep voicing opposition publicly to the extradition.
UPDATE: Jack O’Connor, Jimmy Kelly and Eamon Devoy have sent an open letter outlining their reasons for opposing the extradition available here
First Pat Cox and now Michael McDowell having a go at the WP I wonder if they received any funding from the NED in order to do yankee bidding.I hope justice is served and Sean freed soon.
A crime is a crime is a crime…as Garlands fellow traveller once said.
Must be sad Eamon, always being right but having a life that amounts to little. Don’t comment on man like Garland, your not up to it.
and Garland has achieved exactly what? EDIT FOR VIOLATION OF RULES A failed entity unless you consider the grooming of the “student princes” or Harris et al a political success.
I believe the US have accused him of being the leader of a serious attempt to undermine their capitalist system, even though their lying they know Sean is someone – not just a keyboard jive talker.
Garland should not be extradited-everybody agrees on that. However, Garland himself supported the extradition of political prisoners ‘for attempting to undermine’ British misrule as well as being part of an organisation which carried out political assasinations on Socialist Republicans.
As for your claim that the US see Garland as ‘someone’, its more likely that they are using the case as a stick to publicly beat North Korea with rather than any genuine interest in a old political failure. End of jive talkin’ brother.
Agreed. America could not care one jot about Garland, what has he done for the last 30 years, in the greater scheme of things – Nothing. It is his connections in North Korea, Russian Crime gangs etc that they are focusing in on. He has some powerful friends in Dublin and London, in political and Intelligence circles. They will do all they can to stop him being extradited. I think that their is more to this than meets the eye, it could be a spat between intelligence services, burning each others assets. Who knows?
Another keyboard warrior I see. Very sad men who’s stupid rhetoric cost Irish lives in the past – the type of scum who could be bought with FF gold. You lost saddos.
Fair enough. We agree on the substantial point.
Must be great fun for old comrades to settle old scores.
I wouldn’t sympathise with Garland’s party drudge politics of the 1970s onwards, but I’d say it is important to oppose his extradition to the USA on the grounds that it is not a simple alleged criminal case. They also want him in connection with US foreign policy agendas. US foreign policy has lacked moral principle. Administrations, through the CIA and Special Forces, have destabilized popular governments in Latin America (think of Salvador Allende in Chile or the Sandanistas in Nicaragua)while ignoring murderous regimes like the Argentina junta responsible for thousands of ‘disappearances’ around the same times.
His handlers have thrown him to the wolves. What thanks!
Dan, it was provos who had the handlers – who’s filth tortured young men and played the tapes back to their minders – thankfully Sean ensured Official vols did not suffer so.
More bannings will occur if people don’t calm down on this. One thing is certain, there is broad support for non-extradition from almost all points on the political compass, and particularly on the Republican Left. People want to discuss Garland’s approaches over the years one way or another? This is not the time or place for it.
I think there are two issues here. One is the manner in which the extradition request was handled, the other is the issue of whether or not Garland actually was party to what he is accused of. There seems to a heavy emphasis on the way the extradition process itself. Which is fine but does not deal substanatively with the charges themselves.
Tying in N. Korea and Garland as a victim visa vie American policy there is not only a stretch but does a disservice to common sense so far as the WP and fellow travellers take the side of a dynastic bat shit crazy regime (and I say that knowing anti-capitalist S. Koreans who went out against the dictatorship there in times past).
I would also note that unrelated topics such as America’s cold war foreign policy in Latin America (which was wrong btw) go unmolested in terms of relativity to the actualy topic at hand. Now I certainly want CLR to maintain its current standards and I’ve always tried to maintain them myself in debates. I also recognize that WBS puts in a tremendous amount of effort in posting daily along with contributions from G., IEL and other folks so please recognize that this is not meant as a criticism, merely observation.
As a comrade and friend of Sean’s for over 40 yrs, I wish him all the support from his comrades in Belfast in his forthcoming court appearance. Sean has came through a lot in life being seriously wounded in 1957 while attacking Brookeborough Barracks in which Seán South and Fergal O’Hanlon were killed. 18 yrs later he was at deaths door after an assassination attempt in which he was shot several times. He has been a staunch and loyal friend to all his comrades both north and south and this has been reciprocated by all who know him. Everytime we meet Sean and his wife, Mary we like to feel we, “….treated him like royalty…” Good luck Comrade.
Just remember that many on this very site have denounced South and proclaimed that he was not a Republican.
“There seems to a heavy emphasis on the way the extradition process itself. Which is fine but does not deal substanatively with the charges themselves ”
Its very hard to fight the charges if they are unknown or just general,with no evidence given to back them up,the whole delay stems from the defence waiting to see the evidence to enter a rebuttal.The latest issue of Look Left has an article regarding a media smear campaign against Sean well worth reading and explains how some people are being deliberatly confused .The defence position is explained in greater detail on the WP web site for those genuinely interested. http://seangarlandextradition.wordpress.com/
Here is the article Hal is referring to
http://www.lookleftonline.org/2011/07/media-smears-and-political-intrigue/
Right that is all fine and good, but having read the articles I would say that the only substanative work on both the WP and OIRA (TLR) has noted pervasive criminality in terms of bank robbery and relations with NK and the ORM trying to get funding from them IIRC (emphasis on the latter part because I’m not doing a page check right now). So the “fantastical claims” aren’t quite so fantastical IMHO.
You would make a good judge with all that clinical analysis and I’m sure Sean would feel safe in your hands.
HAL,
Okay having a free moment let note a thing or two,
“By 1983 bogus punt and sterling notes, counterfeited by Irish and British criminal and paramilitary groups, were increasingly circulating in Dublin…Group B was already involved in counterfeiting items including car taxation discs and company cheques. When a decision was made to embark on a major currency counterfeiting operation during 1982, the organization’s leadership was intent on making it large scale and professional”
(523)
A comment on the Southern OIRA activities in the eighties,
“Much of Dublin Group B activity increasingly focused on providing itelligence and logistical support for criminal networks”
(521)
Or just a general reflection on OIRA priorities when at the time of the ceasefire, a period of great turmoil,
“‘The one thing that never stopped,’ a Belfast volenteer recalls ‘was the robberies’”
(191)
I’m not going to quote pages 540-543 but obviously it outlines and specifies WP/OIRA involvement the distribution of forged “super dollars”
These are just a few that I had highlighted in the book that jumped out at me. But you have an organization that Garland headed from prior to day one which was involved with pervasive criminality both, locally, nationally, and internationally for long periods of time. So yes HAL my analysis may not be extraordinarily precise, but it doesn’t need to be because whether or not you and those like you agree this shit is real and it has a history going back thirty plus years.
Folks may oppose the exrtadition on certain grounds, but acting like the charges are some crazy conspiracy theory out to derail a leading socialist figure are about as naive as people who think that Grizzly Adams wasn’t a leading figure in PIRA.
yourcousin,it is true that many ignorant people have claimed Sean South was not a Republican. This is usually youthful liberals playing at being ‘Republican socialists’ and certainly not from anyone who knew him, such as Garland himself. For the 50th anniversary RSF produced a booklet about South. Garland’s contribution should be read by those making such claims. As a, more or less, RSFer myself , I fully oppose the extradition of Sean G..
Fair dues pistachio.
pistachio,
Ignorant or otherwise my point still stands in regards to folk’s opinion on this regard. The fact that Garland himself might counter that argument while entertaining to think about would probably not change too many views on the subject.
The extradition hearing was due to complete yesterday (Monday) but is now planned to wrap up tomorrow (Wednesday) evening. A ruling is not expected until until after the summer break.
http://seangarlandextradition.wordpress.com/2011/07/26/hearing-enters-its-sixth-day/
I oppose Garlands extradition but it should not be forgotten how disgracefully he and his ilk acted in aiding the police in locking up republicans in the past.
The north korean government and the US administration are meeting in Washington this week to discuss mutual political problems. I wonder would they consider a prisoner swap in Garland is extradited?
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