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Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

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Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

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Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link News Round-Up Mon Jun 09, 2025 00:29 | Will Jones
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Raise Taxes to Bring Down Energy Bills, British Gas Boss Tells Reeves Sun Jun 08, 2025 19:00 | Will Jones
The boss of British Gas owner Centrica, Chris O?Shea, has urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to raise taxes to bring down energy bills. As if taxes weren't high enough already.
The post Raise Taxes to Bring Down Energy Bills, British Gas Boss Tells Reeves appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Victory for Darlington Nurses as They Win Landmark Battle for Female-Only Hospital Changing Room Sun Jun 08, 2025 17:00 | Will Jones
The Darlington nurses ? eight pioneering campaigners who formed their own union to defend the rights of women ? have won a landmark battle for a female-only changing room in an NHS hospital.
The post Victory for Darlington Nurses as They Win Landmark Battle for Female-Only Hospital Changing Room appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Child Vaccinations Slump to 10-Year Low Sun Jun 08, 2025 15:00 | Will Jones
The number of UK children being vaccinated against diseases including measles and whooping cough has collapsed to the lowest levels in more than a decade as trust in vaccines plummets following the Covid vaccination drive.
The post Child Vaccinations Slump to 10-Year Low appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link England Football Fans Chant ?Keir Starmer is a C***? Sun Jun 08, 2025 13:00 | Toby Young
At an England World Cup qualifier in Barcelona on Saturday night, bored England fans started chanting: "Na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na-na now, Starmer is a c*** is a c***, Starmer is a c***.?
The post England Football Fans Chant ?Keir Starmer is a C***? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

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Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

CPIR Statement: Support the Guantanamo Bay Hunger Strikers

category international | anti-war / imperialism | press release author Thursday March 21, 2013 20:19author by CPIR - Páirtí Cummanach na Poblachta Report this post to the editors

The camp régime must enter into talks with the prisoners and provide guarantees that religion will not be used against the internees as an instrument of torture.

There are currently 166 internees at the Guantanamo detention camp, which is located off US territory, on Cuban land, held by force and against the wishes of the Cuban people. None of these internees have ever been charged with an offense. Some of them have spent years in this judicial black hole, with no legal rights. Because of the hidden nature of this detention camp, it is very difficult for the outside world to get reliable information about what is going on there. Those released have testified that torture is a routine occurrence. They have testified that the desecration of the Quran is a regular component in the psychological torture of prisoners. The US government has made no attempt to deny torture in this camp, and admits that nine prisoners have died there. The British government has admitted complicity in the kidnapping and torture of prisoners in Guantanamo, and has agreed to pay compensation to at least one man.

We believe that prisoners in Guantanamo have been on hunger strike for 44 days now. There is some contention over this figure, as the US government does not regard someone as being on hunger strike until they have missed nine consecutive meals. Lawyers for the prisoners claim that the majority of the prisoners are now on Hunger Strike. The state claims that the figure is 24. Again, the official definition of Hunger Strike may be being used to deny the total number.

Incredibly, one young Yemeni man, Tariq Ba Odah, has been on uninterrupted Hunger Strike since February 2007. He is force-fed daily by Guantanamo camp guards. The World Medical Association's Declaration of Tokyo, 1975, has designated the force feeding of prisoners a form of torture. It seems that some of those who have joined this most recent Hunger Strike have also been subjected to force feeding. Irish people will remember that Thomas Ashe and Michael Gaughan were murdered by British force feeding, while on Hunger Strike.

In early February, 2013, during a search of the camp, a Quran was handled in a disrespectful manner by camp guards. Hunger Strike began. But, this was far from a one off provocation by the camp régime.

The camp régime has provoked numerous suicide attempts among the internees. Apart from the torture and sectarian provocations inflicted by the camp guards, the lack of charges or any specific accusation against the prisoners leaves them suffering the constant mental torture, so well described in Franz Kafka's The Trial, leading to chronic health problems. We know that genuine Al Qaeda members are not kept in Guantanamo. They are busy doing the dirty work of the US ruling class in Libya and Syria, supplied with all the money and weapons they want.

Barack Obama fraudulently presented himself for election on the platform of closing this obscene internment camp. It is time that he had the courage to start keeping some of his promises. It is well past time that Guantanamo was closed down, and the land on which it is built returned to its rightful owners, the Cuban people. All prisoners there should be released and compensated for their illegal abduction and confinement. In the short term, the camp régime must enter into talks with the prisoners and provide guarantees that religion will not be used against the internees as an instrument of torture.

Páirtí Cummanach na Poblachta
Communist Party of the Irish Republic
21ú Márta 2013

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