September 15, 2003 Irish American Unity Conference (Update)
Irish deportee, Ciaran Ferry, has been held in the Denver County Jail for 208 days in solitary confinement.

The asylum hearing for Ciaran Ferry took place on Friday, August 22nd with Judge James P. Vandello presiding at Wackenhut Services Processing Center in Colorado. The hearing began at 8 a.m. and ended at approximately 4:30 p.m.

When Mr. Ferry walked into the courtroom, it was immediately apparent that his physical condition has deteriorated significantly since his last hearing in May. According to Deanna Turner, an observer from the Irish American Unity Conference, "I was aghast at his extremely pale complexion and frail physical condition. I feel that organizations such as Amnesty International should be notified and a medical expert should be brought in to examine Mr. Ferry immediately."

Testifying on behalf of Mr. Ferry was his father, Gerry Ferry, and his wife, Heaven. Also submitted on Mr. Ferry's behalf were a number of affidavits by expert witnesses. The evidence in these submissions was tendered by Don Mullan, author of the book "Eyewitness Bloody Sunday", award winning photographer Oistin MacBride, who has documented many incidents and events in the 35 years of "the Troubles", Father Desmond Wilson of the Springhill Community House in west Belfast, Judge Andrew Somers who has presided over a number of inquiries into security force murders in Northern Ireland, Paul O'Connor of the Pat Finucane Centre, Danny Cassidy, Director of the Irish Studies Program at New College of California, as well as a documentary filmmaker, and former California State Senator Tom Hayden.

The Pat Finucane Center is a human rights organization which monitors the situation in Northern Ireland. The Center is named after Pat Finucane, an attorney who was murdered, according to the "Stalker/Sampson Report", with complicity by the British government. The Stalker Report was commissioned by the British government, and authored by John Stalker, former Deputy Chief Constable of the Greater Manchester Police; the Sampson Report was authored by Chief Constable Colin Sampson, a respected chief of police from West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom. Sampson's investigation came about after the British government replaced John Stalker with Colin Sampson.

Witnesses on behalf Mr. Ferry gave about 6 hours of testimony, while Homeland Security presented 1 1/2 hours. "In my opinion, there was a huge amount of acting and grand standing by Homeland Security. For example, while Mr. Ferry was pouring his heart out about what it was like to live as an Irishman in Ireland under British oppression, the Homeland Security lawyers were smirking and smiling and tossing a picture of a rifle out on their desk for all to see," said Deanna Turner.

Mr. Ferry testified that he wanted to seek asylum in the US so that he could live with his wife and daughter here in peace. The Good Friday Agreement, Diplock Courts, the difference between ODC (ordinary decent criminals) and P.O.W's was presented, as well and the general discrimination in Ireland towards Irish Catholics and Republicans.

Judge Vandello is expected to make his ruling in 30-45 days.

After the hearing, Mr. Ferry said, "I would like to thank all of the people that have supported me, and continue to support me, and the Irish American Unity Conference for their tremendous help during my family's ordeal."

Contact: Deanna Turner #248-661-6989

Irish American Unity Conference
National Office
611 Pennsylvania Ave, SE # 4150
Washington, D.C. 20003
1-800-947-4282
iauc@iauc.org - Web: www.iauc.org