OMAGH RELATIVE IN PLEA TO SEPARATE PRISONERS
Omagh relative in plea to separate prisoners.
Move urged to 'forestall sympathy for inmates'
By Ben Lowry
A LEADING spokesman for relatives of the Omagh bomb victims today called for dissident republicans at Maghaberry to be granted their wish of segregation from loyalists � in order, he said, to pre-empt sympathy for them.
Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Adrian was killed in the Real IRA blast, said that it was important that the prisoners were thwarted in their efforts to gain "some degree of respectability".
The spokesman for the Omagh Victims' Group said: "This is the first attempt by dissident republicans to raise their profile since the Omagh bomb and gain some sort of respectability within the nationalist and republican community.
"I feel that the Government is going to allow this to spiral. We saw what happened in the Maze in the early 1980s."
The Maghaberry protest has involved around 30 prisoners, mainly linked to the Real IRA and Continuity IRA, who have smeared excrement on their cell walls as part of demands for segregation.
Mr Gallagher said that the prospect of a rise in sympathy for dissident republicans was "very troubling and distressing for those who lost relatives and are still coping and dealing on a daily basis with what happened in Omagh".
"They should have the same rights as every other prisoner but no more. The Government should grant them segregation but not special status."
Mr Gallagher said it was not unusual for the prison authorities to segregate prisoners.
"They do it with dangerous prisoners and sex offenders. At Maghaberry it would defuse the tension and take away the publicity that the dissidents are trying to get." The Prisons Service said its main consideration was prisoner and staff safety.
"We would maintain that by far the safest regime is in an integrated one," a spokesman said. "We segregate those prisoners who are considered to be at particular risk and that includes sex offenders and others."
He added: "We have no doubt that this protest is not about safety. It is about a small number of prisoners at Maghaberry seeking to gain power and control."
Move urged to 'forestall sympathy for inmates'
By Ben Lowry
A LEADING spokesman for relatives of the Omagh bomb victims today called for dissident republicans at Maghaberry to be granted their wish of segregation from loyalists � in order, he said, to pre-empt sympathy for them.
Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Adrian was killed in the Real IRA blast, said that it was important that the prisoners were thwarted in their efforts to gain "some degree of respectability".
The spokesman for the Omagh Victims' Group said: "This is the first attempt by dissident republicans to raise their profile since the Omagh bomb and gain some sort of respectability within the nationalist and republican community.
"I feel that the Government is going to allow this to spiral. We saw what happened in the Maze in the early 1980s."
The Maghaberry protest has involved around 30 prisoners, mainly linked to the Real IRA and Continuity IRA, who have smeared excrement on their cell walls as part of demands for segregation.
Mr Gallagher said that the prospect of a rise in sympathy for dissident republicans was "very troubling and distressing for those who lost relatives and are still coping and dealing on a daily basis with what happened in Omagh".
"They should have the same rights as every other prisoner but no more. The Government should grant them segregation but not special status."
Mr Gallagher said it was not unusual for the prison authorities to segregate prisoners.
"They do it with dangerous prisoners and sex offenders. At Maghaberry it would defuse the tension and take away the publicity that the dissidents are trying to get." The Prisons Service said its main consideration was prisoner and staff safety.
"We would maintain that by far the safest regime is in an integrated one," a spokesman said. "We segregate those prisoners who are considered to be at particular risk and that includes sex offenders and others."
He added: "We have no doubt that this protest is not about safety. It is about a small number of prisoners at Maghaberry seeking to gain power and control."
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0894
Published Date: 30-Jul-03
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