I wish to express my solidarity to Pol Brennan and express my hope for an early release. No doubt we all send our best wishes to Pol’s partner in the US and his family here in Belfast.

 I received a letter from Pol last week. Needless to say, under the circumstances of a long incarceration, Pol sounds up beat and resolute in his quest for justice. Pol’s many years of incarceration in the 1980s and 90s in the US had taught him to be patient and expect the very worse.

 The peace process in Ireland and the agreement had set about the eventual release of Pol Brennan and other former Irish republican prisoners both here in Ireland and in the US. Pol had gained a work permit and went about building a life for himself. Then this January Pol was arrested without charge in Texas and has been held in solitary confinement since. It is this harsh incarceration that must be challenged by all of us.

 This incarceration is indeed an injustice and an affront to the American Constitution, a document revered by most Americans. But there are those who wish to see this historical and democratic document undermined for political reasons. This is why it is so important for all Americans who believe in justice to stand up for Pol’s right for fair and just treatment under the law. Pol has committed no offence or indeed the US government is not stating that he conspired to do so.

 I myself had been incarcerated for some nine years in the early 1980s. Again like Pol I had escaped from prison during the conflict. The American federal courts had ruled my offences were political in nature and denied my extradition to the Britain. That administration had set about to undermine those federal courts decisions and finally had me deported back to Belfast. I was eventually released in 1999 due to the Good Friday Agreement.

 I represent Coiste na n-Iarchimi, a republican ex prisoners network in Ireland representing some 25,000 former detainees. It is this organization that calls and demands the immediately release of Pol Brennan. We call on the Bush administration in demanding that the Home Land Security and the local Texas courts to release Pol. The Irish republican movement has been at peace since 1995. Pol Brennan was a supporter of that peace process and was instrumental in voicing this support for peace to our supporters in the US. The arrest and continuing incarceration is insult to the integrity of Pol’s work over the years.

 We implore upon the American government to look beyond the paranoia and hysteria of potential attacks on US citizens and let them selves be guided by justice and fairness. Pol Brennan’s release would further righteousness in a world torn about by conflict and injustice.

Thank you. Joe Doherty