from the Britain & Ireland Human Rights Centre
Prepared 29 February 1997
Free Roísín McAliskey website: http://larkspirit.com/roisin/
The plight of 25 year-old Roísín McAliskey, daughter of the former Member of Parliament for Mid Ulster Member and civil rights leader Bernadette McAliskey, gives rise to issues of grave concern for human rights defenders around the world.
Like Amnesty International and the US-based Human Rights Watch/ Helsinki group, the Britain & Ireland Human Rights Centre believes the conditions of her detention in the United Kingdom while challenging an extradition request from the Federal Republic of Germany may amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
Roísín McAliskey is currently in the middle of her sixth month of a difficult pregnancy, complicated by medical disorders. Unless she is released on bail, doctors fear she could lose the baby.
Roísín McAliskey was arrested without warning or explanation on Wednesday 20 November 1996 and driven to Castlereagh interrogation centre outside Belfast where she was alternately questioned and harangued by detectives of the Royal Ulster Constabulary from 8.00am in the morning to 1.00am at night - one hour on and one hour off for five days without a break.
At one point, those responsible for her interrogation staged a bizarre and disturbing confrontation by introducing Roísín to the police officer who, fifteen years previously, had carried her brother and sister out of the house in which their mother lay critically injured following an attack by loyalist paramilitary gunmen.
"You don't remember me", the officer said. But Roísín was forced to listen as he reconstructed the events of that traumatic night, going over every single detail.
While the RUC themselves declined to bring any charges against her, the media were informed that a warrant had been received from Germany. After another day extended detention in Castlereagh, she was flown to England from where extradition proceedings could begin.
Bernadette McAliskey denounced moves to extradite her daughter to face charges of participating in an IRA mortar bomb attack on British army barracks last June as being politically motivated.
"My daughter was arrested, detained and interrogated in Castlereagh for six days. In that time, she suffered persistent insults, provocation and abuse aimed at family members, both living and dead."
"Roísín's stubborn defence of her legal rights and personal dignity was punished by the cynical exploitation of the European Extradition Treaty to transport her to England and subject her to a further sixty days of detention by the British authorities."
Bernadette McAliskey has further alleged that the original arrest and detention "formed part of a systematic pattern of aggressive harassment and intimidation of community groups in West Belfast accompanied by the arrests of young republican women who worked in the area, were computer literate and were vulnerable because of pregnancy or recent childbirth."
Roísín McAliskey was received at Charing Cross police station in London and examined by a police doctor. He was so concerned about her condition, he entered a note in the custody record expressing his view that she should be kept under constant medical supervision and have ready access to an emergency obstetrics unit.
Despite these warnings, she was remanded in custody to Holloway women's prison. An appointment was made for her to be thoroughly examined at the pre-natal unit of nearby Whittington hospital. But before she could attend, she was taken out of Holloway and moved to Belmarsh prison in south London - an all-male high-security prison with no female facilities at all.
At Belmarsh Prison in south-east London, Roísín McAliskey was put in a cold 'cell within a cell' at the end of a ground floor corridor containing seventy male prisoners.
It was later alleged that this cell had previously been used by a republican prisoner engaged in a 'dirty protest'. The toilet was encrusted in filth and the floor had not been cleaned. The mattress was stained and the whole cell smelt disgustingly. Roísín McAliskey was told she would have to clean it up herself.
For six days, she was held in solitary confinement, deprived of natural light and refused proper exercise. Doctors at Belmarsh meanwhile added worries of their own - that the prison lacked necessary equipment and staff would be unable to cope in an emergency.
Their fears were confirmed when she suffered a panic attack in the early hours of 4 December and pressed the alarm bell to call for help. Staff took more than an hour to respond.
An independent doctor said later: "A general practitioner faced with a request for a visit of a woman 17 weeks pregnant with abdominal pains would risk being struck off the medical register for refusing to visit for over an hour."
Following Roísín's next court appearance before Bow Street Magistrates later in the morning of 4 December, her anxious mother and partner, Sean McCotter, travelled down to Belmarsh for an arranged visit.
As they arrived at the gates, Fianna Fail prison spokesperson Eamonn O'Cuiv TD was coming out. He too had been due to see Roísín that morning but had been taken to one side by the prison governor and told the visit was cancelled for reasons "that would become apparent" later that afternoon.
Just then, an ambulance drove past and sped through the prison gates with fast-moving police vans, front and rear, and a helicopter flying overhead.
Eamonn O'Cuiv complained: "It was much later, and only after long enquiries that we established that Roísín was not in danger but had been taken to hospital for a very routine pre- natal test and that she had been moved back to Holloway prison."
While the discourtesy to a visiting Irish politician was serious enough, he said: "It is intolerable for a mother to be kept waiting for three hours to find out what has happened to her daughter."
With every no-notice move from jail to jail, Roísín McAliskey was strip searched and further disorientated. Clean clothes and letters from home went missing yet again. She was, said her mother, being treated "like a brown paper bag."
Prison staff at Holloway have expressed concern that while Roísín McAliskey is on 23-hour lock up, between the hours of 8.00pm and 8.00am she is completely sealed in her cell. In the event of an emergency, those outside are unable to gain access.
Sean McCotter, who has flown backwards and forwards from Coalisland to London for Roísín's court appearances, said he remained deeply concerned for her health and for that of her unborn child.
"She needs proper treatment urgently. Even before her arrest she was anaemic and very weak. She suffers repeated strip- searching. At the moment she is in isolation in her cell twenty-three hours a day."
He said conditions improved temporarily when she was moved out of the all-male prison at Belmarsh and sent to Holloway because the Governor there was willing to allow her out into the prison garden for an hour each day. This 'concession' was subsequently overruled by the Home Office and she is again denied either proper exercise or access to natural light. She is denied association
with other prisoners, forced to sleep with the lights on behind a cell door that prison warders require special authorisation to open.
In mid-December, solicitor Gareth Peirce complained that despite numerous health warnings, Roísín McAliskey had still not received a thorough obstetric examination.
An independently- commissioned medical report showed she was suffering "signs of advanced starvation" as a result of repeated vomiting, had insufficient exercise, recurrent migraines, no access to natural light and was in danger of losing her baby.
Stipendiary magistrate Ronald Bartle admitted the report "made disturbing reading". He could find no justification for the continuing failure of the Prison service to provide the necessary medical attention.
Independent reports confirmed that psychological strain as a result of her solitary confinement and concerns for the logistics of her pregnancy had worsened her medical condition. Doctors found her unborn child was smaller than the normal weight for a late second trimester foetus and warned of a significant danger of a premature delivery due to the strain under which she had been placed.
If Roísín McAliskey's pregnancy goes full term, she could expect her baby to be born in mid-May. Doctors fearing a premature birth have said she could expect to go into labour as early as mid-April.
Medical reports compiled by Professor Lesley Page, professor of midwifery at Thames Valley University and published in February, confirm that Roísín McAliskey's pregnancy is at high risk.
"There is an accumulation of medical factors; gastric ulcer, asthma, joint problems which when combined with other factors such as smoking (resumed after imprisonment), short and slight stature, stress of imprisonment, particularly in solitary confinement, will make her and her baby more likely to develop serious and life-threatening problems."
"The conditions in which Roísín McAliskey is living are more deprived than the most deprived of women living in freedom because she cannot control her diet or other aspects of her environment, and because her living conditions are morecramped and unpleasant than even the worst off of the general population. Extreme psychological stress is also likely to have a very adverse effect on both mother and baby."
The report concludes: "A combination of medical and obstetrical factors, lack of social support and a totally inappropriate environment represent a serious threat to the health and life of Roísín McAliskey and her baby and to the possibility of secure emotional relationships in the future."
Consultant obstetrician, Dr Wendy Savage stressed that Roísín McAliskey's needs for a healthy delivery were the same as for all women at that stage of pregnancy: "Loving care, a good diet, plenty of rest, non-strenuous exercise, companionship and security."
She found it "inconceivable" that a pregnant woman could get necessary rest while being woken through the night. She said subjection to constant strip-searches at this time could only be described as "inhuman and degrading treatment" and promised to investigate referring the matter to the General Medical Council.
CLOSED VISITS
From sudden moves in and out of Belmarsh and Holloway, to question of whether she is allowed to exercise in the prison garden, right down to the choice of newspapers Roísín McAliskey is allowed to receive - all aspects of her regime are subject to arbitrary overturn from above.
When Roísín McAliskey was first detained in Holloway Prison last December, her partner Sean McCotter was denied entry on the grounds that the two were not married, and consequently he was not an 'approved' visitor.
While this was resolved relatively quickly, Roísín McAliskey was told that rules governing Category-A high risk prisoners prescribed a "closed visit" regime in which prisoner and visitor are separated at all times by a thick plexi-glass screen running from floor to ceiling and obliged to shout at each other through an intercom system.
Recalling her trepidation at the approach of the birth of her own first child, solicitor Gareth Peirce found the words to convey both the dehumanising and psychologically stressful effect of such a regime and the desperate sense of loneliness Roísín McAliskey is experiencing.
"I remember all too clearly the terror and fear of the unknown that I went through in those weeks. But in Holloway prison, Roísín is isolated from anyone who could offer her support. Even during a visit, the glass screen prevents her from reaching out. Since November she has been denied even the comfort of holding the hand of someone she loves."
On 24 February, Director General Richard Tilt issued a statement: "Reports that Roísín McAliskey's domestic visits are only carried out in closed conditions are no longer accurate. Her partner has recently become an approved visitor and he will therefore be able to visit her in open conditions."
The Prison Service admits that Roísín McAliskey has been strip searched on seventy-five occasions during her detention in England up to 16 February.
In reply to a written Parliamentary Question on 16 January, a senior prison service official denied that the pregnant 25 year-old was subject to daily strip searches. Director of Services, Hugh Taylor, said she was searched "whenever she has moved in or out of the prison to court, hospital or transfer. She has also been strip searched before and after every visit".
This procedure is "normal practice for a prisoner of her security category", he added. At Belmarsh prison Roísín McAliskey was strip searched four times in connection with visits and four times in the course of movements in or out the prison. Up to December 20, she had been strip searched 31 times at Holloway: 24 times in connection with visits and seven times in the course of movements.
The director of security and programmes explained that Governors have discretion under Prison Standing Order 5 "to impose closed visits on any prisoner where security or control considerations so require".
Under normal circumstances, he said, prisoners who are subject to closed visits are not given a strip search prior to receiving such a visit. At Belmarsh prison however, "prisoners in the Special Secure Unit are held in the same building as high risk prisoners who are not subject to the restrictions imposed on exceptional high risk prisoners".
In these circumstances, he continued, "exceptional high risk prisoners whether convicted or on remand are therefore strip searched to ensure that illicit items are not passed between prisoners on the way to or from visits".
Hugh Taylor admitted that strip searches of Roísín McAliskey had failed discover contraband or other illegal items. He said "her mouth and ears have been searched, but she has not been subject to any internal body searches".
Kevin McNamara MP observed that routine strip searching of Irish women prisoners in defiance of any proven security risk should attract the revulsion of all civilised society. He said: "Roísín McAliskey is a particularly vulnerable remand prisoner who has not been charged with any offence in this country. In a situation where her detention might itself be proved unlawful, such treatment is outrageous."
Public and private pressure on the prison authorities has led to a reduction in the frequency of strip searching of Roísín McAliskey. But until she is given the assurance that the humiliating practice has been stopped, the psychological stress associated with the strip search remains.
Following complaints that Roísín McAliskey's mail was being censored, a series of questions were asked in Parliament.
Kevin McNamara MP asked what restrictions applied to remand prisoners receiving Irish newspapers such as the Irish Times, Irish News, Belfast Telegraph or the Belfast Newsletter.
On 13 January, he was told: "Prisons provide at public expense, one newspaper for every ten prisoners, taking into account the preferences of prisoners and the need to provide as full a range of newspapers as possible. Additionally, prisoners can receive newspapers directly from publishers, newsagents or booksellers, either at the order of relatives or by payment from prisoners'private cash or prison pay.
"For unconvicted prisoners, the supply of newspapers at their own expense is specifically provided for in the Prison Rules and there are no particular restrictions on the four titles you mention."
Kevin McNamara was surprised then to learn that when Sean McCotter visited Roísín the following week, two periodicals: the weekly Andersonstown News and the magazine Ireland's Own, were among a package of 'contraband' goods returned to him as items received through the post that could not be delivered to the prisoner.
The explanation was revealed in a "post-it" note inadvertently still attached to the bundle. It read: "To go to Cat 'A' Prop - not to be issued (until she complains or we get a PQ (parliamentary question)" The note was dated 13 January.
In the first week of February, Roísín McAliskey was visited by a senior prison official and told she would have to prepare herself and "face up to some realities" over the birth of her child.
Roísín McAliskey was told that as a Category A high risk prisoner she would only be allowed to enter the busy mother-and-baby unit in the unlikely event that no other inmate requires its facilities.
She was warned that if access to obstetric facilities within the prison system was denied, the Home Office would attempt to ride roughshod over medical ethics and order she remain hand- cuffed either to prison officers or to the bed on which she lies.
Roísín McAliskey was also informed that she would be returned to Holloway prison within 24 hours of giving birth and as a remand prisoner would not be allowed to bring her baby with her. She was told that if relatives refuse to co-operate with this policy, her new-born child would be handed over to social services.
All available medical opinion would regard such an option as filled with risks for the long-term emotional and psychological health of both mother and child.
Bernadette McAliskey reacted in horror: "How dare the British government and prison authorities assume that someone will just come along and pick the baby up. It is not a possession like a puppy. Neither is she an orphan."
She also revealed that after explaining arrangements for the confinement, the Holloway prison governor had asked Roísín McAliskey to sign a medical disclaimer that would waive all legal claims against the prison in the event of harm either to her or to her baby.
While refusing to sign such a form, Roísín McAliskey told her mother that she believed the Governor was a "decent" man who was being forced to act on the orders of higher authorities.
While the director general of the Prison Service, has issued a statement denying any suggestion that Home Office policy on Category A prisoners might require them to be hand-cuffed in hospital or during child birth, the overall arrangements remain uncertain.
Staff at the nearby Whittington Hospital have been put on alert to expect the arrival of a high security prisoner and told that all regular admissions, including those to the Accident and Emergency Unit, may have to be closed for the duration of her stay.
Bernadette McAliskey remains adamant that her daughter was given no assurances on the hand-cuff issue until after the Director General's statement released to the press on 13 February. Even then, she said, Roísín was still under the impression that she would be hand- cuffed before and after the birth itself.
On 21 February, again through briefings to the press, the Prison Service 'clarified' its position on whether Roísín would have her baby forcibly removed after 24 hours.
This, we now understand will be determined not by those rules prohibiting a remand prisoner from keeping her baby, but by a specially assembled panel of prison officers, doctors, probation staff and social workers.
It was further revealed that this panel "may have to meet several times" and that Home Office Ministers would expect to be consulted.
Roísín McAliskey remains desperately anxious. She has been told that two people will be allowed to accompany her during the birth but believes the Prison Service intends that these should both be prison officers. She has no idea if the German authorities intend to seek extradition of her new born child.
MAGHABERRY
The treatment of Roísín McAliskey has been contrasted with that of pregnant women detained in Maghaberry prison in Northern Ireland.
There, even high-risk prisoners have access to a purpose-built mother-and-baby unit and can stay for several months in cells that are specially equipped for mothers and babies. No prisoner in Northern Ireland has ever been handcuffed while giving birth.
In Roísín McAliskey's home town of Coalisland, Co Tyrone, Catholic and Protestant neighbours alike have clubbed together to put up their modest homes as surety for her bail application.
Prominent figures within the Irish community in Britain, a Member of the House of Lords and a former government Minister have joined in providing financial support. As a mark of their confidence in her good character, a total of 300,000 has been pledged as a community guarantee that she would not abscond.
Religious and Irish community groups in London have offered to provide suitable accommodation, should the court insist she remain in the city.
Despite her mother's prominence in the political life of Northern Ireland, Roísín McAliskey has remained a quiet and essentially private person throughout her life. Persevering through persistent ill-health during childhood, she succeeded in passing exams and eventually won a place at Queen's University Belfast from which she graduated with a degree in sociology.
Since then she has been employed as a community worker training unemployed people in basic office and computer skills and working voluntarily in a community centre providing additional after-school teaching for local children.
Bernadette McAliskey reflected: "Like everybody else in our community, she grew up being taken out of cars and searched as a baby; she grew up being taken out of cars and searched as a teenager; of being harassed and having her school bag opened on her way to school; but she was never questioned by the RUC under the Prevention of Terrorism Act - not for an hour or even for one minute - until 20 November when she was taken away. And yet the German Federal Prosecutor refers to her as an active service unit member of the IRA."
"And it because that is said, the British authorities have designated her a high risk prisoner, detained her in isolation in Holloway prison and deny her access to the mother and baby unit."
Having dispensed with the requirement for establishing a prima facie case against an accused person, the European Convention on Extradition has "created a situation where countries have conspired, knowingly or unknowingly, to create conditions in which abuse and miscarriage of justice is rife", she said.
"There is nothing to prevent a police officer from making an unfounded allegation against a citizen and, on the basis of that allegation, inviting a police officer in another state to request that person's extradition. In the absence of producing a reasonable cause for guilt, so long as the paperwork is correct that person will be extradited. So long as the allegation is outlandish, outrageous or serious enough, that person will be deprived of their liberty while the matter is being processed."
Eamon O'Cuiv TD and others have spoken eloquently on the standing of the McAliskey family in the community and their international reputation founded, at least in part, on their ability to stand and face adversity in whatever form it takes. "This is a family that dies not run away", he said.
Throughout Roísín McAliskey's ordeal, the German Federal Prosecuting authorities, who are represented in court by the Crown Prosecution Service, have opposed her release on bail.
The grounds for their opposition are the seriousness of the charges, the likelihood of a custodial sentence and the high escape risk.
On 28 December 1996, Dr Eric Trautwein, a senior official at the German Embassy in London wrote to the Britain & Ireland Human Rights Centre: "I understand your concern for Ms McAliskey's health, but I am convinced that the British authorities will do everything possible to ensure she receives every necessary consideration and care in view of her present condition."
"In view of the seriousness of the charges (attempted murder and bomb attack) we must proceed with our request for detention pending extradition as the risk of escape cannot be ruled out."
While this was a matter for the British judicial authorities to decide, he added: "I have no doubt that the judge will take all circumstances into account when deciding on the extradition request."
Solicitor Gareth Peirce argues that Roísín McAliskey has "been denied the opportunity to argue her innocence because lawyers representing the German government used the letter of the law to maintain they were not legally required to establish a prima facie case to substantiate their accusations."
"That same Government has strenuously opposed applications for bail and insisted she remain in custody", she continued. "They have brushed aside testimony affirming her good character and ignored numerous offers of surety."
In February this year, the Britain & Ireland Human Rights Centre received a copy of a letter written on behalf of the German Ambassador in the United States in which the Consul General responded to complaints alleging ill-treatment in custody. He explained: "Whether Ms McAliskey should be granted bail on humanitarian or medical grounds is a matter exclusively for the British authorities to decide."
But the following week at Bow Street Magistrates' Court, Ms Arvinber Sambei, who is retained by the Crown Prosecution Service to represent the German government, expressed her "complete surprise" at the suggestion that embassy officials were claiming that it was the British authorities that were blocking bail.
The CPS had not been informed of any alteration in the policy of the German government, Arvinber Sambei told the Court. Her instructions were to oppose any request for bail on the grounds of the seriousness of charges and the risk of escape.
On 17 February 1997, after a meeting between representatives of the German Federal Prosecutor's office and the Crown Prosecution Service, the following statement was issued:
"The German Prosecution stands by its request of 17 December 1996 to detain and extradite Ms Roísín McAliskey." It was further stated that "all further decisions including the enforcement of detention pending extradition are solely within the competence of the English authorities, ultimately the English courts".
On 21 February, The Irish Times reported that Peter Morre, the German Federal Prosecutor had said: "If they were to ask me, I'd have to say to them that they should do whatever is appropriate under their law - keep her in orlet her out.It is not a matter of whether I'm in favour or against it."
Mr Morre added that his office had been "swamped" with letters of complaint about the conditions under which Roísín McAliskey is being held, but he insisted he had no means of judging the accuracy of the accusations made.
There can be no doubt that an unambiguous statement by the German authorities to the effect that they have not issued instructions to the CPS to oppose bail would be an important factor in influencing the magistrates within whose competence the final decision rests.
The most recent case involving the German government in an attempt to extradite a British citizen accused of terrorist- related offences in Germany concerned a 34 year-old Belfast man, Gerry Power.
Like Roísín McAliskey, Gerry Power was also arrested in Northern Ireland and flown to London. He too, vigorously contested the charges against him and argued that extradition would be oppressive in circumstances where he might expect to be held in a German prison for up to two years awaiting trial.
Gerry Power was held in Belmarsh prison for thirteen weeks before London magistrates agreed that he should be released on bail, shortly before Christmas, in December 1993.
Where the German authorities argued the seriousness of the charges and the likelihood of a long custodial sentence indicated Power was a high escape risk; his solicitors maintained the contrary.
They argued that Gerry Power would wish to defend his reputation as a person of good character and that given the lack of a prima facie case against him, he would have every interest in appearing before the courts to clear his name. His stable family ties and his place within the local community provided further evidence to this effect.
After thirteen weeks in detention, Gerry Power was released on bail while legal arguments over the extradition continued. It took another six months before the German authorities dropped all charges against him and rescinded the extradition warrant.
There are further precedents of individuals charged with serious offences in another jurisdiction being released on bail while legal arguments continue.
In July 1994, two former followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh cult, charged with conspiracy to murder a US state attorney in Oregon lost their fight against extradition and were deported to the United States.
The two English women, Sally Croft and Susan Hagan, were eventually found guilty and sentenced to five years imprisonment. But for the four years their lawyers challenged the alleged injustice of extradition, both women remained on bail.
On 28 June 1996, an IRA cell launched a mortar bomb attack on the British Army 'Quebec' barracks at Osnabrk in Germany.
One mortar bomb exploded inside the base, damaging buildings. Another fell short, while a third bomb stuck in its firing tube. None of the 150 soldiers stationed at the base were injured during the atack.
German inquiries led to a holiday home at Sandhatten, about 70 miles away from the base in Lower Saxony. Police named Michael Dickson, a former British soldier; James Corry , a Belfast actor and Roísín McAliskey as three of the five people they wished to interview in connection with the attack.
Prosecutors claim that a search of rubbish bins at the holiday home rented by members of the IRA unit revealed the remains of "a torn, unmarked plastic bag" bearing two finger prints belonging to Roísín McAliskey. Other reports have suggested this 'bag' may have been the wrapping of a cigarette pack or a packet of biscuits.
It is also claimed that the landlord of the premises "who had frequent contact with the group over an extendedperiod of time, recognised and identified Roísín McAliskey from various photos presented to him".
In December, campaigners in Belfast released copies of a photofit picture they said was distributed by the German authorities soon after the June attack of the woman wanted for questioning. The image was said to bear "a passing resemblance to the actress Goldie Hawn, but none at all to Roísín McAliskey".
German prosecutors further claim that "initial forensic examination showed that a handwritten note given the daughter of the landlord by one of the female members of the group matches the handwriting of Roísín McAliskey to a high to very high possibility".
Solicitor Gareth Peirce has said in court that such flimsy evidence would not sustain the charges laid against her client. She maintains that fingerprints allegedly found on movable items, samples of handwriting and particularly an alleged identification that was carried out in an unsupervised situation could all be ruled inadmissible. Such evidence, she said, would not be a sufficient proof that Roísín McAliskey had visited the oliday home, let alone taken part in an attempted murder.
On 22 January, lawyers seeking Roísín McAliskey's release, began a High Court challenge to the lawfullness of her detention.
They told representatives of the German government that their own country's reservations to the European Convention on Extradition made the request to extradite a British citizen invalid, however serious the offence for whichthey were wanted.
Article 16.2 of the German Federal Constitution expressly forbids the extradition of a German national to a foreign country and reservations to that effect were written into the European treaty at the time of German accession.
The Convention also states that no country which refuses to extradite its own nationals may request the extradition of the nationals of another country.
Lawyers for Roísín McAliskey argue that if the German authorities are not entitled to seek her extradition, then the decision of the Home Secretary to authorise her continued detention must be illegal.
But Alun Jones QC, representing the German government, disagreed. He told the High Court that the language of international treaties should not always be interpreted literally.
The clash between different legal traditions in Europe often gave rise to anomalies, he said, but neither government would wish that Britain should become a save haven for fugitives from justice.
In the High Court, Lord Justice Kennedy sitting with Justice Mance rejected the the application and the case is now under appeal at the House of Lords.
In Dublin, on 15 January, the Irish government had already acted
on the same grounds as Roísín McAliskey layers argued in the High Court by rejecting a German application for the extradition of her co-accused, James Corry.
The case had already been the subject of controversy since the wife of the Belfast-born actor who was arrested in November claimed her husband was in the Irish Republic at the time of the IRA bombing.
Christine Corry complained that Federal Prosecutors failed to provide a detailed account of impending charges. She was told that German police had identified the holiday home rented by the IRA gang over a three week period leading up to the attack.
Yet in the middle of that period - just two days before the Osnabrk bombing - James Corry was at home with her in north Belfast, hosting a dinner party with sixteen guests.
She said he set off the following day for the Republic where he was to audition for a part in a television beer commercial: "For all we know, Jim could have been playing his guitar in front of two hundred people when they say he was in Germany."
"My husband has never been a member of the republican movement and has no interest in politics", she told journalists.
Ordering the immediate release of James Corry, the Irish Justice Minister Nora Owen said she was obliged to do so because German law did not permit the extradition of its own nationals.
A statement from the Justice Ministry said the 1965 Extradition Act dictated that: "Extradition shall not be granted where the person claimed is a citizen of Ireland, unless the relevant extradition provisions otherwise provide."
It explained that provisions of the German constitution created a situation where there could be no reciprocal arrangements; that the German request was invalid; and that consequently the continued detention of James Corry would be unlawful.
In the Westminster parliament, Government ministers have been kept under constant pressure from backbench Labour MPs over the treatment of Roísín McAliskey.
But support for her to be released on bail has come from around the world.
On 7 February, Amnesty International took the unusual step of issuing a worldwide "urgent action" bulletin calling its members to write in protest to both British and German governments.
"In Amnesty International's view, the outcome of the possible decision to separate mother and baby would amount to 'cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment' and would damage permanently the mother-child bonding relationship."
Julia Hall of the New York-based Human Rights Watch said: "Roísín McAliskey's treatment in detention is an appalling violation of the most basic standards for the care of prisoners. At the same time as the British government refuses her adequate care, both British and German governments oppose bail."
"Their intransigence is not only obstructing this woman from getting essential pre-natal treatment, but the conditions of her detention are exacerbating her health problems. The British government has shown an appalling lack of respect for its obligations under international law and the German government is complicit", she said.
Amnesty International also questioned oppressive treatment within the prison. "As a category A high-security risk prisoner on remand, Roísín McAliskey is strip-searched twice a day, as well as before and after visits, even though she has "closed" visits".
"Amnesty International is concerned that regular strip- searching, particularly in connection with visits, may not be necessary for security purposes and may lead to 'cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment'."
In New York, prominent feminists such as writer Bella Abzug, actress Ellen Burstyn, poet June Jordan and Manhattan Borough President, Ruth Messinger have added their voices to the myriad of voices calling for bail.
In Norway, five of the eight parliamentary parties including the Christian Peoples' Party, Kristelig Kolkepart have supported Roísín McAliskey's cause.
Irish Green MEP, Patricia McKenna and German Democrat, Martin Schultz have raised the issue in the European Committee on Civil Liberties and tabled resolutions calling for bail in the European Parliament.
From Malaysia, Dr Chandra Muzaffar, director of one of the best-known Asian NGOs, Just World Trust, appealed to the British government to think again.
On 19 February, Irish Foreign Minister Dick Spring called the British Ambassador to his office in Dublin, to express the Irish government's concerns "in the most straightforward terms possible".
Believing there was "no danger" of Roísín McAliskey attempting to escape the jurisdiction, he warned that failure to handle her case properly "could damage the shared objectives of British and Irish governments".
After visiting Holloway prison, Fianna Fail deputy leader Mary O'Rourke and prisons spokesperson Eamon O Cuiv promised to "use every possible diplomatic channel" to ask for Roísín McAliskey to be released on bail.
Reporting on her prison visit, Mary O'Rourke said she spoke "very strongly" strongly to the governor about the isolation of Roísín McAliskey. "The lack of exercise and disturbed sleep caused by constant lighting and half-hourly inspections through the night is no way to treat a pregnant woman", she said.
In Britain, Early Day Motion No. 497 tabled in Parliament by Kevin McNamara MP has attracted the suport of more than forty Members of Parliament. The motion notes with concern the Amnesty International statement on the treatment of Roísín McAliskey and calls for an urgent review of the conditions under which Category A prisoners are detained.
A weary mother, Bernadette McAliskey said: "I cannot for the life of me see why bail is not being granted. My daughter has never posed an escape risk and at the end of the day, the Germans themselves must know that if the case did go trial she would be acquitted."
"Regardless of the lack of evidence against her, Roísín is being coerced into giving up her right to oppose an unjust and unlawful request for extradition. Her own failing health and the fear that she will lose her unborn child is being used against her. That is the cruellest thing of all."
"I could demand the extradition be dropped. I could demand that the persecution of Roísín McAliskey - simply because she is my daughter - be ended. But all I am asking, on a basic humanitarian level is that she be treated like a human being; that she be allowed to bring her child into the world in the manner of joy and celebration that I believe all mothers have the right to expect."
Send cards or messages of support:
Roísín McAliskey, TE 2456
HMP Holloway, Parkhurst Rd,
London N7 0NY
Request the German government withdraw its opposition to bail:
His Excellency, The Ambassador,
Dr Jurgen Oesterhelt,
Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany,
23 Belgrave Square,
London SW1X 9AT
FAX (0) 171 824 1435
Office of the Federal Prosecutor,
Bundesministerium der Justiz,
Heinemannstrasse 6,
53170 Bonn, Germany
FAX (0049) 228 584 525
Protest about the conditions of Roísín's detention and demand bail:
The Home Secretary,
Rt Hon Michael Howard QC MP,
50 Quenn Anne's Gate,
London SW1 9AT
FAX (0) 171 273 3094
Director General of the Prison Service, Richard Tilt,
Clelland House, Page Street,
London SW1P 4RT
FAX (0) 171 217 6961
The Britain & Ireland Human Rights Centre is an independent London-based Non-Governmental organisation active in the protection of human rights threatened in the context of the unresolved conflict in Northern Ireland.
Its mandate is to seek the enforcement of internationally recognised standards for the protection of rights and to encourage international involvement in addressing Northern Ireland-related issues.
An important aspect of the Centre's work has been in providing assistance to individuals and groups whose rights are threatened.
To order materials or further information contact:
BRITAIN & IRELAND HUMAN RIGHTS CENTRE
Return to the Free Roísín McAliskey home page.
BM Box Rapporteur,
London WC1N 3XX
Tel: (0) 181 525 1653
Fax: (0) 181 525 1654
100544.3665@compuserve.com
This page is sponsored by LarkSpirit and has been compiled with the help of many concerned individuals.