Frank was in the past often threatened by the Irishpolice for
his work in exposing their brutality. Ina letter to a friend from
Brixton Jail he states:
"The Free State police are intent on gettingme back into their
jurisdiction and it looksas if they are even going to the extent
offabricating evidence to do so. Now I knowfor a fact that they
couldn't possibly convictme for Fallon 's death simply because I
wasn'tthere. However they think they have a trumpcard by accusing
me of murder. Any othercharge under the present circumstances
couldbe fought off fairly confidently. My solicitor,Mr. Birnberg,
says that if I am to have anychance of beating this extradition
thing then Imust have evidence to the effect that I am andhave been
active in political circles in Ireland.. If you could do anything
in thisrespect I would be grateful because nothingwould give me
greater pleasure at presentthan to give Dublin Castle and Company a
goodkick up the arse."
Send all donations to: Frank Keane Defence Fund,c/o Joe Quinn,4
Nightingale Lane,London, N.8.
Release Frank KernFHA KEANE, an Irish socialistrepublinan. is in
Brixton jail await-ing extradition proceedings. He ischarged with
killing a policemanearned Fallon during a bankrobbery, said to ire
the work ofmilitant republicans, wkich tookplace in Dublin six
milks ago.Keane says it Is a franw up,
organised by the notorious specialpolitical police arm of
DublinCastle, to 'nail' a fighter againstIrish capitalism and
Britishimperialism.
Within hours of the robbery thepolice issued the names
andaddresses of seven men from whomthey wanted •help' with
theirinquiries. All seven are militantsocialist republicans
No warrants were Issued therebyshowing that the police,to say
theleast, didn't have any clear evi-dence. Indeed they could
hardlyhave hail time to even begin theinvestigation.However, they
did have a lint
of names of people they wantetittr'get'. Amongst those named
itsSean Morrissey, who had be aneditor of the Irish
Trotskyistmaga-zine Workers' Republic. Anotherwas Joe Dillon, whose
past expel,ience of the Irish political polleesheds a flood of
light on the currentcase and the normal methods of theIrish
police.
In 1966 Dillon was framed by theSpecial Detective Unit
(politicalpolice) of Dublin Castle for robberyand given a five year
sentence. Aleft wing member of the IRA movingtowards marxism, he
was a naturaltarget for the special police.Before his arrest he had
be..a
offered bribes by the SpecialBranch to inform on the IRA. Whenhe
refused, he was told that 'theBranch' would "get him". Andthey
did.He was arrested for an attrapted
robbery that had taken place nixMonths earlier. In an
identificationparade none of the witnesseiidentified Dillon.
Nevertheless ayear later he was tried and givenfive .years.
An international campaignwas organised to demand
Dillon'srelease. Eventually the sentencewas reduced to three
years.
The same people who framedhim then are attempting it again,now
for murder — which in Irelandstill carries the death penalty
forkilling a policeman.
In order to extradite FrankKeane, they will have to present
aLarge part of their 'evidence' to theOld Street Magistrates
Court.They are not above fabricating
such 'evidence'. It is part of theeveryday work of the Irish
politicalpolice.
With the present politicalcrisis in the 'Republic', the
gov-ernment desperately needs scape-goats — and they need to
annihilategroups and individuals who want tocombine a militant
non-sectariansocial policy with aggressive anti-itnperialism.
Keane was victimised in thepast. When he was 'named' by
thepolice, he wrote a letter to theIrish Times. He denied
knowledgeof the killing, but refused to helpthe police.He explained
that he had beenharried and persecuted in the past
for his politics. The police hadpreviously attempted to frame
himon a robbery charge and for attemp-ting to burn down a Fianna
Failheadquarters.He was jailed and ill-treated
on the robbery charge and finallyJust released. -h-Socialists In
Britainaye a dutyto aid Frank Keane. Help keep
Frank out of the hands of thebrutal !HMI police. We must letthe
Dublin government know that ithas the labour movement to
reckonwith, not only in Ireland but hereas well.Trade union, IS.
Labour Party,
Young Socialist, Communist Partyand YCL branches, and all
revolu-tionary socialists and republicans,must send messages
andresolutions in support of Keane andthe other political
prisoners, to theIrish Embassy, Mount Street,London Wl. Pickets
outside theIrish Embassy will be organised.Contact: London
-.46443*.Manchester - 061-445
Keane Defence Committee.
