WBAI 99.5FM Pacifica Radio
New York City
4 April 2015
CW: You're welcome and thank you for having me.
SB: And Christy, the first obvious question is:
Why? I mean, you're not in prison. Why is it so important to you to clear your
name that you're on a hunger strike?
CW: Because even to this day it still impacts on
my life - from work or anything I try to do - it's there. It doesn't go away.
SB: And how are you feeling? I mean, this is your
twentieth day on hunger strike.
CW: There was a lot of anticipation about the
idea of what going on a hunger strike would be like but it's not what I really
thought it would be like. The first few days I had like low sugar moments and
just the hunger, the craving. Now, I don't feel hungry. I know my stomach's
empty. But I'm in good enough spirits. There's a few moments maybe where I feel
a bit more run-down or so but overall I'm pretty strong, you know?
SB: And Christy, every day while you're on hunger
strike you've been sending two emails: one to Peter Robinson, who is the leader
of the Stormont government in Northern Ireland and the other to Martin
McGuinness, formerly of the IRA, who's the Deputy First Minister. Has either
one ever gotten back to you?
CW: Neither one of them have gotten back to me
and I'm not asking for anything other than the law stipulate that they can
deliver.
SB: Now to be frank, I'm not surprised that Peter
Robinson doesn't get back to you. Peter Robinson is with the Democratic Unionist
Party - it was Ian Paisley's party - and to be very frank I think his
point-of-view is probably that all Irish Republican should probably all rot in
gaol. So you're not going to get a lot of sympathy from him.
But Martin McGuinness on the other hand, is
the former Officer Commanding of the IRA in Derry, the former Chief-of-Staff of
the IRA, he would have had comrades on hunger strike, many comrades in prison,
so I'm kind of surprised that he hasn't gotten back to you.
CW: Well, I'm
actually surprised over the years because one of the most notable things that I
have discovered is that more British soldiers, more members of the British
Parliament, more Unionists have written to me than elected members of Sinn
Féin. They have been much more positive towards me than any elected member of
Sinn Féin ever has been.
And I didn't come on here really to attack
parties but that is I have to give fair dues to many English people who have
supported me. And there was one British
soldier in fact who came into West Belfast, conducted his own investigation
who's totally supported me over the years and it's marvelous what he did. But
Sinn Féin wouldn't.
SB: And what are you asking Martin McGuinness to
do, specifically?
CW: Well, David Ford – I had a court date on the
31st of May and what the court was going to look at was
prosecutorial misconduct. I have a lot of evidence that soldiers claim that
they were coached prior to the trial.
One retracted his trial testimony under police caution when it was
discovered that it was completely false. And another one had told us that he
had made – his original statements - had all gone missing and he was told to
re-write them or he was ordered to re-write them – and what they took out
actually was that these soldiers - these same soldiers that arrested me - had
arrested other people prior to my arrival at the scene. And these people were,
well at least I know at least one of them, was discretely released the
following day.
Now, I don't know the story about who these
people are, whether they were involved with paramilitaries or whether they
weren't, but the head of British intelligence, John Derek Martindale, he was
head of intelligence right through the conflict, and I have a hand-written
report of his where he identifies one of these men as having been the original
person to have had possession of this device and not me.
SB: Yeah, that was a masonry jar if I'm not
mistaken?
CW: A coffee jar – a glass coffee jar.
SB: A glass coffee jar. Did it contain gasoline
or anything?
CW: Sorry?
SB: Did this jar have gasoline or anything in it?
CW: It had a small quantity of explosives in it.
SB: Oh, okay, but you didn't have - but the fact
is that you are falsely accused of having that in your possession.
CW: Well, yes. There's quite a volume of evidence
that shows that I'm demonstrably innocent and the court has refused to hear it
and it is gone - it's been referred to David Ford really to handle
it...(crosstalk)
SB: ...David Ford is the Minister of Justice.
CW: ...the Justice Minister and that's not due
process to have a Unionist politician to decide whether I'm guilty or innocent.
Now David Ford came up with the idea that there was forensic evidence on me and
he went into court and testified that and my lawyers didn't rebut that. But
there's no forensic evidence exists against me – none whatsoever! Not even a
fragment. None! Not a microscopic element of forensics exists against me.
But David Ford went into court and told the
court that exists – my lawyers didn't rebut it - and it stands - and that was
only in 2012.
SB: But as you said, David Ford is a Unionist
politician. He was put in office through a deal, because he's with the Alliance
Party, and Sinn Féin and the DUP made a deal. They said: We can't have someone
from the DUP as the Minister of Justice. We can't have someone from Sinn Féin
and we don't want someone from the Social Democratic Labour Party so we'll have
somebody from the Alliance Party. And they put him there and they've kept him
there ever since. And I would say, at least, that that is why you can't get
justice.
CW: Well, David Ford and his department have
summed it up quite well I think and they have, from internal reports which I
have, that their reason for opposing me getting any justice is: That if Walsh's
application succeeds it could raise his profile and it could raise concern
about other convictions. So they're not even worried about me. They're worried
about other cases that are there – and I don't know what these cases are - but
that's their concern.
And the reason for that concern is: I have
caught a prosecutor red-handed. I took a prosecutor's file from the court room
- I gave it to the police, I gave it to the judiciary and I gave it to all the
senior politicians - here's the evidence - now do something with it.
One member of David Ford's party wrote to me
that really, I could be done for theft for stealing a file from a court room.
So I went to Mount Pottinger RUC Base in the centre of the city and I offered myself
in. I said: Either I'll assist you in the investigation of a crime or I am the
person that should be investigated. I took a file from the court room without
the prosecutor's knowledge or permission. I did it - so do something about it –
and they won't.
SB: But it would seem to me that from what you're
saying that what David Ford said - that he's worried! There might be other
miscarriages of justice out there - other people who have been unjustly
victimised.
And he seems to be saying that if you're vindicated
they might have to vindicate other people as well. And that's a fairly damning
indictment of the whole justice system in The North.
CW: And this isn't going back to the past because
the prosecutor we're talking about is still actively a prosecutor to this day.
So it's not something sort of this is where we're talking about The Troubles
and everything's changed now. No, these people are still in place.
SB: Before we let you go - it would seem to me
this is a pretty extraordinary news story. This is your twentieth day on hunger
strike. Every day you send an email to
the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister - and has any Northern Ireland
paper covered this?
CW: Not one. But there is one paper over in the
UK – over in England which - it has expressed some interest of doing an
interview with me this week.
SB: Well, that's good news.
CW: It is.
SB: But you
would think that the media right on the ground in the North of Ireland might
have some interest in this story.
CW: I'm at as much a loss as you are on that.
SB: And we should - before I let you go - I think
I need to thank Anthony McIntyre of The Pensive
Quill, the blog The Pensive Quill, which I recommend to you very
highly. And Anthony brought this case to my attention. If you go on The Pensive
Quill every day you'll get the latest news on this hunger
strike.
So Christy, thanks very much, the best of
luck to you. We hope that you're cleared very soon so that you can come off
this hunger strike.
CW: Thank you and could I actually just affirm
what you just said on Anthony – I mean he's done sterling work and but for him
probably a great many people would never have known anything.
SB: And by the way – I just want to say: I'm
sitting three thousand miles away in New York City – if I can find out about
this case, Martin McGuinness, who's in Belfast (or Derry) can find out about it
just as easily.
CW: It's hitting him in the face every day he
opens up his computer.
SB: Okay, well Christy, as I said, we hope that
we don't have to talk to you again because we hope that you'll be cleared and
you'll be able to come off hunger strike. So thank you very much and we're
going to be keeping track of your case.
CW: You're
welcome. All the best. Thank you.
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