The arrest of Pat Arrowsmith on 18 October under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) nighlights the increased assault by the Labour Government on the right to free speech on ireand. The only "crime committed by Pat was the distribution of a political leaflet to civilians, which specifically dissociated itself from a bombing campaign of any type. Yet the PTA is purportedly aimed solely at those involved in the commission, preparation and instigation of terrorism.
The orginal pretext for the introduction of the PTA in November 1974 was the unsubstantiated claim that the Provisional IKA were responsible for the wave of explosions which culminated in the Guildford and Birmingham pub bombings. But the Government had been considering legislation of this sort at least 18 months earlier. All the evidence which has accumulated over recent months reveals the true purpose of the Act as an instrument for terrorising the Irish community and anyone who dares to oppose British military rule in The PTA has been in operation for almost a year now. As of 13 October, 946 people had been detained under the Act without warrant, charge or trial. Nearly 70 people have been served with 'exclusion orders' deporting them from Britain. All those arrested have had their fingerprints taken, and virtually all have been photographed - despite the fact that they have mostly been released later without any charges being preferred against them.
This shows that the police have no evidence in the first place, and that the waves of searches and arrests are being used primarily as a means of terrorising the Irish community. The police are also using the Act to amass a file of confidential information, photographs and fingerprints for future police operations — information which they would otherwise be unable to extract.
MASSIVE RAIDS Once the PTA became law the police immediately began sweeping raids on the Irish community right across Britain. Scores of innocent Irish men and women were arrested and 'interrogated' allegedly in connection with bombings such as those in Guildtord and Birmingham.
In the case of the Guildford bombings the police first arrested only ten people under the Act, but those detained were then forced to give names and addresses of their friends and relatives. The only possible connection with the bombings was that they were Irish. Eventually, over 50 Irish people were arrested under the Act in connection with Guildford before the four current victims - Armstrong, Conlon, Hill and Richardson - were pinned with murder and conspiracy charges and put on trial for the Guildford borhbings.
The course of the trial itself revealed several aspects of the Act in practice. Apart from the innocence of the defendants themselves, a lawyer. It is a licence to the police to arrest, torture and imprison people for life on the Furthermore, it seems clear that the prosecution of the four defendants at Guildford was being used as a show-trial for strengthening the anti-Irish witch-hunt in general, and for maintaining the PTA in particular.
Also, an apparent pattern has emerged showing timely bombings in Britain either before, during or immediately after the trials. These create a climate in which victims are tried, found guilty and sentenced before the prosecution has said a word. The car bombing which killed Prof. Fairley on the day after the end of the Guildford trial, for instance, clearly made the verdict and sentencing more palatable.
ANTI-IRISH HYSTERIA In this situation, critical examination of evidence and the use of police terror are drowned in a sea of anti-Irish reaction which can only strengthen the case for maintaining Two aspects of Labour's witch-hunt: (above) Pat Arrowsmith speaking at an anti-fascist rally while on the run from a prison sentence for leafleting soldiers; (below) picket in support of the BWNIC 14