PRESS RELEASE: Irish/Australian international peace activist, Ciaron O'Reilly, referred to in Secret US cables exposed by Wikileaks, calls for Release of Bradley Manning

PRESS RELEASE

2 December 2010. For immediate release. No embargo.

 Irish/ Australian international peace activist, Ciaron O'Reilly, referred to in Secret US cables exposed by Wikileaks, calls for Release of Bradley Manning

Available for interview.....
Ciaron O'Reilly (London, England)
Landline 0208 348 8212 (calling from outside UK +44 208 348 8212)
Mobile 079 392 905 76 (calling from outside UK 44 79 392 905 76)

Catholic Worker activist, Ciaron O'Reilly, who has been referred to in secret cables from the American Embassy in Dublin, called today for the release of Bradley Manning and an end to US military flights through Shannon Airport.

In February 2003, O'Reilly was one of five Catholic Worker peace activists arrested by Irish Gardai and charged with $US 2.5 million criminal damage to a US war plane refuelling at Shannon Airport en route to the US-led invasion of Iraq. O'Reilly had previously served a year in US prisons for damaging a B52 Bomber in the lead up to the 1991 Gulf War.

The five activists known as the "Pit Stop Ploughshares", but referred to in secret US cables as the "Shannon 5" were unanimously acquitted by a jury at Dublin's historic Four Courts at a third trial in August 2006.

The acquittal of the five activists created much furore and consternation, expressed in cables issued at the time from the US Embassy in Dublin. The Wikileaks exposure reveals that the US government officials considered launching a civil case against the activists before abandoning the proposal.

O'Reilly, who now lives and works at the "Giuseppe Conlon Catholic Worker House of Hospitality for Homeless Refugees" in London, stated:

From its outset, the Pope declared the war immoral, the UN declared it illegal and now Wikileaks exposes the true nature and depth of the criminality and barbarity of the US led wars on Iraq and Afghanistan.

Wikileaks has shone a light in the darkness, which is a prophetic role. Bradley Manning, the US soldier accused of these revelations, is rotting in a military prison in Virginia.  Bradley is paying with his liberty for this valuable social service that he has given us.  We need to join together in solidarity with those soldiers refusing further deployments and refusing to continue to wage these illegal and immoral wars with courageous nonviolent resistance in civil society.  We have to stop these wars and free Bradley Manning! We have to address corruption, both economic and diplomatic, in Ireland today."

Ciaron O'Reilly is available for comment and interview:
Landline 0208 348 8212 (calling from outside UK +44 208 348 8212)
Mobile 079 392 905 76 (calling from outside UK 44 79 392 905 76)

BACKGROUND

Ciaron O'Reilly

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s166615...0.htm

The cable on the wikileaks page
http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/cable/2006/09/06DUBLIN1020.html

Wikileaks Daily Releases here:
http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/index.html

Attached are the dates and subjects of all the cables from Dublin or mentioning Ireland for those of you who don't have this list already.

More coverage

http://www.thejournal.ie/ireland-government-united-states-shannon-flights-election-wikileaks-2010-12/

Ciaron O'Reilly
Blog  http://ciaron.wordpress.com/

"The poor tell us who we are,
The prophets tell us who we could be,
So we hide the poor,
And kill the prophets."
Phil Berrigan