Our captive comrade DD McLaughlin is now facing extradition. A Free State judge today granted the extradition from the 26 counties. DD is bascally being surrendered to MI5 controled torture camp at Maghaberry Prison…..

………..Court grants extradition of Damien McLaughlin from the 26 counties to the North Ireland

The High Court has ordered the extradition of a man to Northern Ireland in connection with the alleged murder of prison officer David Black.

DD McLoughlin being extradited from the 26 Countie State to the occupied 6 County State of Ulster.

Damien Joseph McLaughlin(pictured above, (40), with an address at Glenties Rd, Belfast, was arrested in Donegal on foot of a European Arrest Warrant issued by Northern Ireland authorities earlier this year.

He is wanted to face allegations that he aided and abetted the murder of David Black on November 1st, 2012, and was in possession of an article suspected of being for the commission of murder.

 

Mr Black, a 52-year-old father of two, was shot dead on the M1 motorway by dissident republicans as he drove to work in Maghaberry jail.

Mr McLaughlin is also charged with engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism and of being a member of a proscribed organisation.

His barrister, David Leonard BL, opposed surrender on grounds that Mr McLaughlin believed he would be exposed to inhumane and degrading treatment if he was surrendered to Northern Ireland.

Mr Leonard said full body searches were carried out in Maghaberry Prison with unwarranted force and Mr McLaughlin would be subjected to a large number of forced body searches during his trial.

In a written judgment last month, Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly sought further information from Northern Irish authorities questioning the necessity for full-body searches in light of improvements in technology, such as was operated in Portlaoise Prison.

 

Ordering Mr McLaughlin’s surrender this evening, Ms Justice Donnelly said further information was obtained from Northern Irish authorities that showed, contrary to evidence before a Joint Oireachtas Committee, there was a necessity to carry out full body searches on the specific occasions of entry and exit to Maghaberry Prison.

In a five-page reply to the judge’s request for further information, the head of the Northern Irish Prison Service set out the “severe threat” to their staff from dissident republicans.

In about the last five years, two prison officer have been murdered, Ms Justice Donnelly noted.

She said the head of the Northern Irish authorities took issue with the term “strip search”. They said “full body” searching was the most effective method available to prevent illicit items being brought into prison while preserving the dignity of prisoners as far as was practicable.

Northern Irish authorities stated that prisoners were not required to completely strip naked or squat during such searches. They referred to full body searches being carried out internationally and stated that they were European Court of Human Rights or “ECHR compliant”.

The authorities went on to say they keep procedures under constant review and remain open to the possibility of adopting or deploying search methods which could prove as effective. However, to date, no available technology has proven to offer the same level of assurance, despite two tests on a range of available technologies in 2012 and 2015, northern Irish authorities stated.

Ms Justice Donnelly said the fact that Northern Irish authorities did not provide a detailed account of the testing was not a basis for rejecting the assessment.

She said the court had to assess the issue of necessity in the context of Northern Ireland. The fact that this jurisdiction had a “different standard of effectiveness” has to be viewed against what the High Court was told about the risk in Northern Ireland.

She said the Northern Ireland Prison Service explained how they operated in a very specific high risk environment, that they were conscious of the sensitivities around the issue of full body searches and the need to keep the requirements for this type of search under review.

Ms Justice Donnelly said the reply received from the Northern Irish Prison Service demonstrated that technology, as it existed at the present time, was limited in the context of security within the Northern Irish prison system and that full body searches were necessary on entering and exiting Maghaberry prison.

She said Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights or the related Constitutional provisions were not contravened. On that basis, she rejected Mr McLaughlin’s point of objection and accordingly, ordered his surrender.

With many thanks to: Stephen Murney for the origional statement.

End the EXTRADITION of Irish Republicans

Judge wants more information on strip searching in Damian McLaughlin extradition case

A High Court judge is seeking further information on strip searches in a North of Ireland prison before deciding whether to extradite a 40-year-old Belfast man wanted there in connection with the murder of prison officer David Black.

Mr Damien Joseph McLaughlin, with an address at Glenties Rd, Belfast, was arrested in County Donegal last March on foot of a European Arrest Warrant issued by Northern Ireland authorities.

He is wanted to face allegations that he aided and abetted in the murder of David Black on November 1st, 2012, and was in possession of an article suspected of being for the commission of the act of murder.

Mr Black, a 52-year-old father of two, was shot dead on the M1 motorway by dissident republicans as he drove to work in Maghaberry jail.

Mr McLaughlin is also charged with engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism and of being a member of a proscribed organisation. The maximum penalties applicable to each of the four offences are ten years, 15 years and two penalties of life imprisonment.

Previously, his barrister, David Leonard BL, claimed his client’s constitutional right and his right under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights not to be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment would be breached by virtue of the prison conditions he would be subject to in Maghaberry prison in the North of Ireland on surrender.

Mr Leonard said that the full-body searches (strip-searches) which took place in Maghaberry and also in conjunction with the background of controlled movement within the prison, reached the threshold of inhuman and degrading treatment.

High Court judge Ms Aileen Donnelly delivered her written judgement today, where she said she rejected the contention that restrictions on movement amounted to inhuman or degrading treatment.

Ms Justice Donnelly said she also rejected the respondent’s claim that he would be at real risk of being exposed to inhuman and degrading treatment because of the manner in which the strip-searches will be carried out.

However, the judge said the question of whether there is a necessity for a full-body search in light of improvements in technology was a separate issue. “The main evidence before me as to a lack of justification for these strip-searches is that technology exists to resolve the necessity for full-body searches,” she said.

She said the court also had credible evidence before it from information provided to a Joint Oireachtas Committee from highly respected persons that Portlaoise Prison operated technology which meant full-body searches were no longer required.

“This information questions whether full-body searches ie strip-searches are necessary in the absence of an indication by the technology,” she said.

The judge said she was entitled to rely upon the evidence presented to the Oireachtas Committee as a credible source of information for the purposes of assessing general conditions in which republican prisoners are held in Maghaberry. She said it amounted to “objective, reliable, specific and updated information” that rebutted the presumption that full-body searches were necessary on entry and exit to Maghaberry prison due to available technology.

“This means that the general conditions in Roe House (at Maghaberry prison) in so far as they relate to strip-searching raise a real risk that this respondent could be subjected to inhuman and degrading conditions on surrender,” she said.

Ms Justice Donnelly asked that further information be obtained in this jurisdiction and from the North of Ireland to show that this technology is limited or that there are specific reasons why strip-searching on entering and leaving the prison are necessary, or that Mr McLaughlin will not be subject to such strip-searching on each individual occasion he enters and leaves the prison.

The judge requested the Minister for Justice to provide her with “any relevant information” about the technology in use in this jurisdiction and she also requested further information from the UK.

A resumed hearing will take place on November 21 and Mr McLaughlin was remanded in custody until that date.

With many thanks to: Irish Republican Prisoner News.