Date: Sat, 05 Apr 1997 21:55:50
Subject: M-NEWS: OFFICIAL petition for Roisin McAliskey


Support Roisin McAliskey's bid for freedom and justice. Please get as many
signatures as you can on the petition below and send to the addresses
listed at the end as soon as possible.

Note that this petition was drafted by the Roisin McAliskey Justice
Campaign in San Francisco and is the OFFICIAL petition text approved for
use by Bernadette McAliskey.

Please include name, address (including country) and signature for all
entries on petitions.

You may also access the petition online at http://larkspirit.com/roisin/

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    PETITION TO FREE ROISIN McALISKEY
    STOP THE BRITISH TORTURE OF A PREGNANT IRISH WOMAN

We, the undersigned, demand the immediate release by British authorities of
Irish national Roisin McAliskey, daughter of world-renowned civil rights
leader Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, on the most fundamental humanitarian
grounds. Ms. McAliskey, a twenty-five-year-old woman who is due to give
birth to her first child in May, 1997, has serious health problems
including traumatic asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, anemia, and an ulcer,
which put both her and her baby at risk. Since her incarceration in
November of 1996, no credible evidence has been brought forward, and no
formal charges have been made against her, yet she has been denied bail and
any opportunity to defend herself.

During the first four months of her incarceration, she was denied the most
basic medical and prenatal care, held in solitary confinement 23 hours per
day, strip-searched an average of twice a day, and threatened with
separation from her baby at the moment of birth. Only as a result of
international protest and outcry, have British authorities recently eased
some of these cruelties.

Human Rights Watch-Helsinki, The International League for Human Rights,
and Amnesty International have protested Roisin's treatment.

We, the undersigned, hereby demand an immediate end to the physical and
psychological torture and imprisonment of this young Irish woman.

NAME                    ADDRESS

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   Send original, completed petitions to:

British Home Secretary Michael Howard
British Home Office
White Hall, London SW2, England
fax 202-298-4249.

   Send copies of your petitions to:

Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany
4645 Reservoir Road, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20007 USA

   Please also forward a copy to one of these addresses:

Roisin McAliskey Justice Campaign
2274 28th Street, San Francisco, CA 94116 USA

Justice for Roisin McAliskey Group
Unit 21.5, Conway Mill
Conway Street, Belfast, BT13 2DE, Ireland