Fury over newspaper prison ban

national | rights, freedoms and repression | other press Monday August 14, 2006 22:07 by ban on Republican thought next?

Attempt to Silence the Voice of the Republican Movement

SAOIRSE

http://rsf.ie/saoirse/current/aug06.pdf

Fury over newspaper prison ban

by Ciarán Barnes

08/11/2006

The prison service in the South has banned Republican Sinn Féin’s monthly newspaper from Portlaoise jail, amid fears it could influence inmates in upcoming elections.

Until earlier this week, the publication, Saoirse, had been widely available in the prison.

When a dissident republican prisoner queried the ban, he was told that, because the paper was a political publication, it could influence inmates who are entitled to vote in next year’s Leinster House election.

The 2007 poll will be the first time that prison inmates will be allowed postal votes in elections.

Republican Sinn Féin chairman Joe Lynch called the ban a “backward step”.

He said: “The stated reason for this ban is a nonsense. Most newspapers are political and take a political viewpoint or indeed endorse political parties and even donate cash to parties. They may as well ban The Irish Times or the Daily Mail.”

Mr Lynch accused the prison service of a “crude attempt” at discriminating against republicans opposed to the Good Friday Agreement.

“It is as simple as that, and I am calling for an immediate lifting of this short-sighted ban on a legitimate party publication,” said Mr Lynch.

You can read August issue of SAOIRSE at the following link: http://rsf.ie/saoirse/current/aug06.pdf