TYRANNY IN IRELAND

Maoriland Worker, Volume 11, Issue 476, 28 April 1920, Page 3

TYRANNY IN IRELAND

TREATMENT OF POLITICAL

I'KISONEHS

[The following communication reached a member of the Women's International League in Auckland, signed by j the names which are attached. It i gives some information regarding | Irish affairs which is eloquent of the | state of affairs in the distressful ' country.] I In 1918 there were 1109 arrests in J Ireland for political offences. In ]!ll!) by the end of August the count had reached 714, there being 700 political | prisoners, both men and women, in ; jail in Ireland, or transported to English or Scots jails. The proportion of political prisoners \ to population in Ireland is enormous i when one considers that the ■ actual | population is little over four millions; i thirty millions being "scattered' through the world as a result of Eng-; land's misrule. Therefore, the pro-' portion—to population—in Ireland is greater than that in Russia under the, regime of the . Czar. . j Out of 105 representatives returned j to Parliament, 73 are Republicans, of. i whom all except four have been, or j I are now, in prison; our one member of Parliament, Countess <!c'. Markicvicz, Minister of Labor, luis ; been in prison for two years and two months since 1916. She was elect oil while she was in Holloway prison, and j has only enjoyed two months' liberty, since her election. Under ' English military rule, children as young as j eleven years have been kidnapped and < shut up, and their distracted parents) refused even the knowledge of their whereabouts. .Men have been sen-! tenced to two years' imprisonment for , singing a patriotic song, others for having Republican election literature in their possession, or for drilling, and one little boy for "whistling derisive-, ly"- at the police. Many have been kept for months in prison without any charges at all. Almost alone among civilised na-' tions England herds her political prisoners with criminality. In each case, where the Irish political prisoners! protested against this they were brutally ill-treated. j Some have died in prison, many have I)een released only to die, others have- had their health permanently ini-I paired, and some have but exchanged j | the prison cell for a lunatic asylum. The infamous Cat and Mouse Act, I inaugurated in England against the ; suffrage prisoners, and which consists j of releasing the prisoner when the prison doctor thinks he will die and re-arresting him if his health im- ! proves, is in nractice in Ireland. ' On the 12th October, 1919, the Lord ! Mayor of Dublin visited Mountjoy ' prison, and stated that he found 44 political prisoners handcuffed. Many j of them seemed very weak. They j had been in handcuffs for ten days j continuously, some with their hands; fixed behind their backs. In the name of the principal Women's Associations in Ireland, we address this appeal to our sisters in other countries, asking them to use their influence to demand the formation of an International Committee of Inquiry, composed of nien and women, who, in the interests of humanity, would send delegates to inspect the prisons used for the detention of Irish political prisoners. Similar committees composed of neutrals sent delegates to visit the prison camps in the belligerent countries during the war to ensure that the usages of humanity were maintained. Should England now refuse to allow what France, Germany, Austria, and Italy willingly accepted, she stands self-condemned. The Vatican, America, Holland, Switzerland, and Spain were foremost in the work of ameliorating the condition of the prisoners of war. Could not some of the members of these neutral committees be persuaded to extend their services and protest in regard to the Irish Republican prisoners of war? j Seeing that all liberty of the Press, j all liberty of free speech, have been j ! abolished under English military rule i in Ireland, all our Republican and many other newspapers suppressed, and public meetings prohibited, we appeal to the civilised world to break down the wall of silence with which England, seeks to surround Ireland, and to let the light into those prisone where England is- trying to destroy the best and bravest of our race. (Signed HANNA SHEEHY SKEFFINGTON, HELENA MOLONY, LOUIE BENNETT, MAUD GONNE MACBRIDE.