Contents
- 6th October Protest at the Dail 5-7pm – Stop the Drone Murders in Afghanistan and Pakistan
- Shannon Watch Vigal Sunday 9th October 2011 14:00
- Take Action for Doctors in Bahrain – Put Pressure on Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI)
- Shannon Watch Article – Not Knowing is Not Good Enough Eamon Gilmore
- Donating to the Irish Anti-War Movement
- Setup a Standing Order
1. 6th October Protest at the Dail 5-7pm – Stop the Drone Murders in Afghanistan and Pakistan
At 9 pm (local time) on Sunday October 7th 2001, the US supported by Britain began an unjustified attack on Afghanistan. Ten years later the US military are still there, and the Afghan people are suffering greatly.
2. Shannon Watch Vigal Sunday 9th October 2011 14:00
Contents
- 6th October Protest at the Dail 5-7pm – Stop the Drone Murders in Afghanistan and Pakistan
- Shannon Watch Vigal Sunday 9th October 2011 14:00
- Take Action for Doctors in Bahrain – Put Pressure on Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI)
- Shannon Watch Article – Not Knowing is Not Good Enough Eamon Gilmore
- Donating to the Irish Anti-War Movement
- Setup a Standing Order
1. 6th October Protest at the Dail 5-7pm – Stop the Drone Murders in Afghanistan and Pakistan
At 9 pm (local time) on Sunday October 7th 2001, the US supported by Britain began an unjustified attack on Afghanistan. Ten years later the US military are still there, and the Afghan people are suffering greatly.
2. Shannon Watch Vigal Sunday 9th October 2011 14:00
Protest in Shannon at 2pm on Sunday October 9th 2011 to remember a decade of lives lost anddestroyed in Afghanistan, and to tell the Irish government AGAIN that the use of Shannon Airport by the US military is unacceptable.
3. Take Action for Doctors in Bahrain – Put Pressure on Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI)
The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) has maintained its links with Bahrain despite the arrest of health care professionals for treating injured protesters. The RCSI has done nothing to vindicate the rights of even its former students who were arrested and forced to confess under duress. Instead the RCSI has chosen to side with the authorities in Bahrain.
The King of Bahrain is STILL a Fellow of the RCSI!
YOU CAN ACT TO STOP THIS
Please write to, ring and e-mail Professor Eilis McGovern President of RCSI
A sample letter is below.
——————————– Letter ——————————–
Professor Eilis McGovern
President
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
123 St Stephens Green
Dublin 2
Ireland
Tel: 01 402 2344
Email: emcgovern@rcsi.ie
I am writing to highlight my concern at the inaction of the RCSI after the arrest and unfair trial before a military court of 47 doctors and nurses in Bahrain. There have been serious and credible allegations of torture made in relation to these arrests.
I am also appalled that the RCSI maintains its links with Bahrain and that the King of Bahrain is still a Fellow of the RCSI.
Among the doctors and nurses currently on trial are three doctors who studied at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dr Ali Al Ekri, Dr Basim Daif and Dr Ghassan Daif.
All three were arbitrarily detained, held in incommunicado detention, reportedly tortured, denied access to their families for two months and forced to confess under duress. These "confessions" were videotaped while they were blindfolded and are being used as evidence against them.
Additionally, Dr Ghassan’s wife Dr Zahra Alsammak, who also studied in Dublin, was detained for 25 days and is also facing charges.
I am calling on the RCSI to:
1. Publicly condemn the targeting of medical professionals who were simply performing their duty to injured protesters.
2. Publicly Revoke the Fellowship of the King of Bahrain immediately.
3. Call for an immediate independent investigation into the allegations of torture of medical professionals.
Yours sincerely
4. Shannon Watch Article – Not Knowing is Not Good Enough Eamon Gilmore
Shannonwatch, 19/09/2011
Over the years Eamon Gilmore has spoken passionately about the lack of inspections of US aircraft suspected of being involved in renditions. In March 2006 he highlighted a Council of Europe statement that the European Convention on Human Rights can be violated through an omission to act. "Not knowing is not good enough" said Mr Gilmore. And a few months later he demanded to know if the Irish government was going to start inspections at Shannon.
Gilmore is now our deputy prime minister. He can ensure that those inspections take place. But in an outrageous change of heart last week he said that the government – his government – has no reason to call into question assurances received from the US authorities.
Not knowing about Irish complicity in torture is perfectly ok with Eamon Gilmore now it seems.
Gilmore’s statement was in response to a series of questions from one of his Labour Party colleagues in government. He was asked, among other things, to explain what steps beyond mere diplomatic assurances are taken to ensure that Shannon Airport is not used by aircraft for the purpose of rendition. He was also reminded of the Council of Europe recommendations and the commitment in the programme for Government to enforce the prohibition on the use of Irish airspace and related facilities for purposes not in line with the dictates of international law. And the best he could come up with was the following
None of the various investigations into allegations of extraordinary rendition, including those carried out by the Council of Europe, have revealed any evidence that rendition through Irish airports has occurred, nor is there any new information or allegation linking Irish airports to acts of extraordinary rendition.
Specific and unique assurances have been sought, and have been received, from the US authorities that no such prisoners had been transferred through Irish territory, nor would they be without our express permission. The Government has no reason to call into question the value of the assurances received at a high level from the US authorities in this matter.
This reply ignores two key facts. The first is that there is information to indicate that Shannon was used by rendition/torture flights. Eamon Gilmore has read the Council of Europe reports, and he cannot be so detached from reality to not know about the Amnesty International reports, the Wikileaks admissions that his predecesor Dermot Ahern knew of these flights, the information from a recent New York court case indicating the use of Shannon by torture flights, and indeed the documentation presented by Shannonwatch to the Gardai.
The second fact ignored by Gilmore is that assurances from the US are worthless. He knew this when he demanded inspections in 2007. But perhaps he needs to be reminded again about the British experience with US assurances over rendition flights. In February 2008 the foreign secretary Ed Miliband had to tell parliament that "Contrary to earlier explicit assurances that Diego Garcia had not been used for rendition flights, recent US investigations have now revealed two occasions, both in 2002, when this had in fact occurred".
How long will it be until an Irish foreign minister makes a similar statement about Shannon? And how long will it be before Eamon Gilmore’s colleagues in Labour get tired of his refusal to implement his promise to uphold international law?
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Original article at http://www.shannonwatch.org/blog/remember-eamon-not-knowing-not-good-enough. Please link to www.shannonwatch.org if reproducing.
Email: shannonwatch@gmail.com. Phone: (+353) 87 8225087
5. Donating to the Irish Anti-War Movement
5-1. Setup a Standing Order
To set-up a standing order with the Irish-Anti War Movement please go to the following link https://www.irishantiwar.org/files/standing-order-form.doc fill in the form and post to the Irish Anti-War Movement P.O. Box 9260 Dublin 1.
