User:Damian Herron/sandbox

Gerry McGeough
Gerry McGeough, a 53 year old teacher, published author and former Tyrone County President of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, is a native of the Brantry area of County Tyrone, Ireland. Married with four young children, Gerry returned to Ireland in 1996. He then graduated from Trinity College Dublin with an Honours Degree in History and attained a Higher Diploma in Education from University College Dublin.

As a former Ard Chomlairle member of Sinn Féin, Gerry was an architect of the Irish peace process and continues to support a peaceful and political solution to achieving a United Ireland.

Gerry however, for a number of reasons, became disenchanted with the political direction of Sinn Féin at that time, in particular because of the stance taken by Sinn Féin in their support of abortion and he left the party in 2001.

On 7th March 2007 he stood as an Independent Republican MLA candidate in the Stormont Assembly elections. The following day as he left the count centre in Omagh, he was surrounded by police officers and arrested.

The timing of his arrest, nine years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement raised many questions as to the motives. In an attempt to explain the unusual circumstances surrounding his arrest, the PSNI stated that for many years they had been looking for Gerry, but could not locate him. However, since 1999, Gerry had been travelling freely to and from Northern Ireland. He was stopped at vehicle check points many times, called for jury service on two occasions and applied for planning permission to build his family home in Brantry. Their children attend the local school. Throughout his election campaign as a high profile candidate, Gerry made numerous appearances on both television and live radio programmes.

After four years of legal limbo, Gerry was eventually charged with having allegedly wounded part-time UDR soldier Sammy Brush, possession of firearms and membership of the IRA. These alleged offences date back to 1975 and 1981.

Gerry was convicted of these alleged offences in a non-jury Diplock Court in February 2011, imprisoned in HMP Maghaberry on 18th February 2011 and then in April 2011 he was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment.

After the signing of the Good Friday Agreement on 10th April 1998 both Republican and Loyalist prisoners who were in prison at that time benefited from the Early Release Scheme. However, this scheme did not deal with the issue of a relatively small number of OTR’s (On the Runs). Paragraph 20 of the Weston Park Accord (2001) was then negotiated at the request of Sinn Féin and agreed upon by both the British and Irish Governments to ensure that OTR’s would be treated equally to those prisoners who had already been released under the Early Release Scheme.

The decision by the British Government not to apply the wording of Strand 3, Prisoners, paragraph 1 of the Belfast Agreement (1998) to the case of Gerry McGeough and credit Mr McGeough with time served in Germany and the USA prior to 1998 is a direct violation of an international agreement. Strand 3, Prisoners, paragraph 1 states:

1. 'Both Governments will put in place mechanisms to provide for an accelerated programme for the release of prisoners, including transferred prisoners, convicted of scheduled offences in Northern Ireland or, in the case of those sentenced outside Northern Ireland, similar offences (referred to hereafter as qualifying prisoners). Any such arrangement will protect the rights of individual prisoners under national and international law. Gerry McGeough was imprisoned prior to 1998 in both Germany and the USA for a total of seven and a half years under qualifying IRA offences.'

The decision taken by the British Government not to legislate for paragraph 20 of the Weston Park Accord (2001) under the wording agreed by the British and Irish Governments in 2001 is a unilateral abrogation of an International Agreement. Paragraph 20 of the Weston Park Accord 2001 states:

"supporters of organisations now on cease-fire against whom there are outstanding proceedings, and in some cases extradition proceedings, for offences committed before 10th April 1998 would if convicted, stand to benefit from the early release scheme. The Governments accept that it would be a natural development of the scheme for such prosecutions not to be pursued and will as soon as possible, and in any event before the end of the year, take such steps as are necessary in their jurisdictions to resolve this difficulty so that those concerned are no longer pursued". Although the Weston Park Accord was negotiated in 2001, the legislation required to implement paragraph 20 was not brought before the Westminster Parliament until 2005.

On November 9th 2005 Sinn Féin MP Conor Murphy gave a briefing to Westminster MP's on the legislation published that day by the British Government which was expected to resolve the situation surrounding OTR’s (On the Runs).

On December 20th 2005 the British Government made a proposal that British State Forces should be included in the OTR legislation. Sinn Féin saw this as a breach of the agreements negotiated at Weston Park in 2001. President of Sinn Féin Gerry Adams TD told the then British Secretary of State Peter Hain that if the British Government was not prepared to remove British State Forces from the OTR legislation, then that legislation should be withdrawn entirely.

On January 11th 2006 British Secretary of State Peter Hain withdrew the OTR legislation. If paragraph 20 of the Weston Park Accord had been legislated and implemented under the terms agreed in 2001, Gerry would never have been pursued or incarcerated. It is also important to point out that members of the British State Forces have not faced prosecution or imprisonment for alleged offences prior to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement (1998). Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, Gerry is expected to be released in January 2013 having served two years of his sentence. He will however be released on an 18 year licence which can be revoked at any time under the instruction of a British Secretary of State. The decision to revoke a licence can be made on the basis of ‘closed material’ to which neither Gerry nor his defence lawyers will be granted access. This will deny Gerry and his defence the ability to challenge such a decision.