Call for solidarity

Call for solidarity

Roisin McAliskey, daughter of long-time Irish civil rights activist Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, was arrested in her home town of Coalisland in the north of Ireland in mid-November. After being held in Castlereagh Barracks in Belfast, she was transferred to Holloway Women's Prison in London.

Two weeks ago, she was suddenly declared a "high-risk" prisoner and transferred to the top security Belmarsh men's prison in London. On December 4 she was again remanded in custody for seven days.

McAliskey is 18 weeks pregnant and severely undernourished following her period in custody. The men's prison in which she is being held is obviously not equipped to treat her properly.

No serious charges have been advanced against McAliskey. The German authorities want to extradite her on charges connected with an attack on a British army barracks near Osnabruck in northern German in early 1996. McAliskey has never visited Germany.

Given the serious risk to her health if she remains in prison, McAliskey should be transferred immediately to hospital. The charges, if any, against her should be clarified or dropped. Please send messages to the British embassy demanding McAliskey's immediate transfer to hospital.

From GLW issue 258