Call for the Immediate Release of Marian Price on Health, Humanitarian and Justice Grounds
NOBEL LAUREATES, 27 Aug 2012
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service
Open Letter to the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Dear Mr. Owen Paterson,
I write to you regarding the continued immoral and illegal internment of Marian Price. As you are well aware Marian has spent over fourteen months, in prison, twelve of which were spent in forced isolation, and she is at present seriously ill and held under armed guard in an isolated hospital ward.
This treatment is cruel and inhumane and amounts to torture as the words of Juan Mendez, UN Special Rapporteur on torture, states: “Indefinite and prolonged solitary confinement in excess of 15 days should be subject to an absolute prohibition”.
The illegal detention of Marian Price for political offences committed nearly forty years ago, and for which she was pardoned, is a serious violation of her human rights, a blank disregard for due process, and a violation of our ‘Good Friday Agreement’.
Unanimous medical opinions confirm that Marian Price is unable to participate in any legal proceedings due to her rapidly deteriorating health. This being the case, and also in the interest of truth and justice, I write to request that this seriously ill woman be released immediately to her family.
13th August, 2012
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Mairead Corrigan Maguire is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment. She won the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize for her work for peace in Northern Ireland. Her book The Vision of Peace (edited by John Dear, with a foreword by Desmond Tutu and a preface by the Dalai Lama) is available from www.wipfandstock.com. She lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
See: www.peacepeople.com.
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 27 Aug 2012.
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For your reference and information:
– United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules)
http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/docs/2010/res%202010-16.pdf
– UNITED NATIONS STANDARDS, GUIDELINES AND INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS
http://www.uncjin.org/Standards/UNRules.pdf