BY NORTON SANDLER
SAN FRANCISCO - In the aftermath of discovering an escape tunnel on March 23, prison guards dressed in riot gear administered beatings to Irish Republican prisoners being held at the Maze prison near Belfast, Northern Ireland.

According to An Phoblacht/Republican News, 66 prisoners were beaten. They include Joe Doherty and Jimmy Smyth, two well known Republican fighters who were extradited back to Northern Ireland from the United States - at the request of the British government - after their legal appeals to remain in this country were denied by the federal courts and the White House.

Smyth and dozens of other inmates escaped from prison in Northern Ireland 1983. He was arrested here nine years later.

Following the discovery of the new escape tunnel, the leadership of the Irish prisoners had worked out an agreement with prison authorities on how they would allow the authorities to search their cells.

Republican prisoner Robert Crawford told An Phoblacht what happened next: "The agreed search procedure that had been in place for quite some time was that we take off our tops, put them back on, take off our jeans and `shake out' our underwear. Anything beyond this is unnecessary for search purposes and it has no purpose other than to attack a person's dignity."

Crawford explained that the guards came into his cells and demanded he take off all his clothes. Crawford responded by saying the guards could carry out the usual search but that he was not going to remove his underwear. The riot squad then descended on the wing Crawford was being held in, going from one cell to the next.

Crawford said three guards in riot gear entered his cell. He was stripped, handcuffed, and driven in a van to another wing where he was tossed "face down in the cells." After twisting his legs, the guards left. "They injured my right shoulder and lower back and my joints," said Crawford.

After being held incommunicado for a few days, Jimmy Smyth was able to phone his wife here in San Francisco. He explained he too was forced to the ground with his arms twisted behind him for 30 minutes. Smyth suffered torn ligament in his right arm and numbness in his right hand and was bruised across his body.

During Smyth's extradition trial here, British prison authorities had stated that he would not be subject to reprisals upon his return to Northern Ireland. Smyth says the same man who testified at his trial witnessed the beatings of the prisoners.

Terry Kirby and Kevin Barry Artt, who also escaped from Maze in 1983, are currently facing deportation charges here in San Francisco.

Norton Sandler is a member of International Association of Machinists Lodge 1781.  
 
 
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