DUFFY FAMILY TO ANNOUNCE ELECTION DECISION AT PUBLIC MEETING IN LURGAN
The family of imprisoned Republican, Colin Duffy, will be holding a public meeting in North Lurgan Community Centre, Lurgan, this Wednesday evening (May 6th) at 8.00pm.
In a statement released to the media today, Paul Duffy, a brother of the imprisoned man said:
“At Wednesday night’s public meeting, we will be announcing the formal launch of our family’s campaign aimed at securing Colin’s unconditional release.
“Over the past number of weeks, our family and a number of close friends have met together on a very regular basis to discuss and to plan a way forward which will secure Colin’s release and his return to his wife Martine, his children and to our wider family circle.
Paul continued, “As part of that process, family members met with and held lengthy and very positive discussions with quite a number of people from various walks of life across the Six Counties. During those discussions, we received great encouragement and very constructive advice as we explored the various options open to us in developing an effective campaign which would expose the unjust imprisonment and the continued persecution by the state of Colin.
“All of those with whom we have met have pledged our family their full support.
“One of the options which we explored, and which has already been widely reported in the media, has been the possibility to putting Colin forward as a candidate in the forthcoming EU elections. On Wednesday night, we will be announcing our considered decision in relation to that option. We will not be making any further comment to the media on that issue until the public meeting.
“At that meeting, we will also be setting out six elements or strands which will collectively form the basis of our overall campaign to secure Colin’s release.
In conclusion, Paul Duffy said, “Many people will be aware of the recent high-profile cases involving members of the Islamic community in Britain and will see the very striking similarities between those cases and that of Colin.
“Like Colin, innocent people were arrested amid a blaze of publicity and held under the same legislation which permits detention for up to 28 days. Like Colin, they were tried and convicted by some sections of the media. Yet those arrests have now been shown to have had no evidential basis whatsoever, but were purely politically motivated arrests. That has proven to be the case on previous occasions when Colin was unjustly arrested and imprisoned in 1993 and 1997. We firmly believe that the same will again be proven to be the case in relation to his present unjust, and politically motivated, arrest and imprisonment.”
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