Mark Barnsley Released from Whitemoor Prison

Justice for Mark Barnsley Campaign, are overjoyed to announce that miscarriage of justice prisoner Mark Barnsley was finally released from Whitemoor prison on the morning of Monday 24th June 2002.

Mark walked out of maximum security HMP Whitemoor to loud cheers and applause from waiting supporters. Friends, eager to welcome Mark out of prison had travelled from around the country and included an official delegation from the NUM, complete with their National Union banner.

After having his first decent breakfast in 8 years at a local cafe and thanking everyone for coming, Mark set off back to South Yorkshire where he will be living for the foreseeable future. He was later reunited with his children. Mark's youngest daughter who is now 8 years old, last saw him outside a prison when she was just 6 weeks old.

After spending over 8 years in just about every Maximum security hell- hole the prison system has to offer, Mark is in good spirits and obviously glad to be finally out. Mark and his campaign would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported him over his 8 long years of wrongful imprisonment.

Whilst Mark tries to re-build his life and adjust to living in the outside world again the Justice for Mark Barnsley campaign will continue to help him get the justice which is long overdue. Mark has been released after serving two thirds of his 12 year prison sentence but he has yet to clear his name and have his wrongful conviction overturned. Prior to his release Mark refused to sign his licence on the principle that he is an innocent man and freedom is his right.

Before Mark was even released, the Police in South Yorkshire tried to intimidate local supporters. In a very obvious attempt to make things even harder for Mark, the place where he was intending to live upon his release was visited by the local Police Intelligence Unit (Special Branch). This sadly resulted in Mark loosing his new home before he was even out of prison. Thanks to friends and supporters rallying round though, a local alternative was quickly arranged so that Mark's release could go ahead and he at least has a decent place to stay. This action by the Police is obviously of concern to us and we will continue to closely monitor the situation.

The Justice for Mark Barnsley campaign will be producing a more detailed bulletin shortly which will contain updated news about Mark's release and a few words from Mark himself. The bulletin will also contain details of a national meeting we are organising to discuss Mark's release and the campaign. This will be followed by a social get-together and will be in about a months' time.

If you have Mark on your mailing lists (magazines and other publications)please change his details to those below. Also if you'd like to contact Mark you can now write to him at:

Mark Barnsley

C/O JfMB

PO BOX 381

HUDDERSFIELD

HD1 3XX

We will forward any mail addressed to him.

Mark will be also contactable on the campaign mobile phone, hopefully within a few days once he's learnt how to use it. The number is: 07944 522001.

Whilst we know that Mark is glad of your support, please bear in mind that he already has a big backlog of mail he received in prison to answer so there is likely to be a delay in him being able to reply.

The Struggle continues!

Justice for Mark Barnsley Campaign

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Frank Johnson, is Free - Conviction Quashed

Frank Johnson, walked out of the gates of HMP Swaleside, early Wednesday evening to be met by long time friend Billy Power of the Birmingham Six. Earlier in the day Billy and Paddy Hill of the Miscarriages of Justice Organisation (MOJO), were in the High Court to hear the conviction quashed.

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Man cleared of murder after 26 years in jail

By Steve Bird, The Times, Thursday 27th June 2002

A MAN who spent 26 years in prison protesting his innocence of murder was freed yesterday after three judges ruled that his conviction was unsafe.

Frank Johnson, 66, always insisted that he did not kill Jack Sheridan, a 60-year-old shopkeeper, by setting him alight in East London in 1975.

Mr Johnson, who was convicted of murder in September 1976 together with two others, had turned down the chance of parole and leaving jail years ago, saying that he wanted his name cleared of the crime. The other men, Jack Tierney and David Smart, have been freed on parole.

Mr Johnson's friend and employer, Jack Sheridan, was doused with petrol and set alight on February 3, 1975. He had been watching television in the back of his newspaper shop in Whitechapel. A man entered the shop and as Mr Sheridan returned to the counter, petrol was thrown at him and a match struck. He died three weeks later in hospital.

On the second day of Mr Johnson's appeal at the High Court in London, Lord Justice Longmore, sitting with Mr Justice Wright and Mr Justice Rougier, said that they were quashing the conviction.

They had been told that Mr Johnson was not mentally fit to appear at the murder trial in 1976. Lord Justice Longmore said: "We have come to the conclusion that in the light of the medical history of this case, the medical evidence, it is impossible for us to say that Mr Johnson's conviction is a safe conviction. It will therefore be quashed."

The court had been told that Mr Johnson had been suffering from paranoid psychosis. "The appellant was unable to participate effectively in his trial by reason of his mental state," Edward Fitzgerald, QC, Mr Johnson's barrister, said.The judges ruled that there was no need for any further submissions in the case, and added that they would give reasons for their decision today.

Mr Johnson, who will now be able to apply for compensation, had waived his right to appear at the court and was discharged last night from Swaleside prison on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.

He emerged from the prison gates and embraced Billy Power, one of the freed Birmingham Six, with whom he will stay until alternative accommodation can be found.

He said: "I am so glad to be free. I thought this day may never come. I am over the moon. The first thing I am going to do is go for a pint in an English pub."

The case was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigates possible miscarriages of justice. During yesterday's short hearing Victor Temple, QC, for the Crown, held that the conviction was safe.

He said: "I do not argue for one moment other than there was some disability accrued to him, but the extent of that disability was not such as to make this trial unfair."

Mr Justice Rougier asked him: "How can it be a safe conviction if this man should never have been tried at all?"

While Mr Johnson's solicitor, Gareth Peirce, welcomed the judges' decision, she said that she was concerned that the Prison Service had not prepared her client for the outside world. She said that he was "a bit of a loner", with no family and he had not been in an open prison to accustom him to leaving prison.

"Effectively you're in prison one moment and outside the prison gates the next," she said. "It's an extraordinary situation and one that the Government needs to address."

Ms Peirce continued: "He's always assumed his conviction would be quashed. The only problem is that it's taken 26 years. It is bringing to an end a prolonged period of imprisonment when Mr Johnson could have been out years ago had he acknowledged guilt and had he co-operated with the life review board. He has consistently said he would do no such thing."

She added: "If his conviction had not been quashed today, one could imagine, the system being what it is at present, he might have remained in prison for the rest of his life."

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Freedom and Justice for Samar Alami and Jawad Botmeh

The struggle never stops:

Below is an Early Day Motion (EDM), tabled by John Austin MP to highlight the continued injustice against, Samar Alami and Jawad Botmeh. Contact your MP and ask her/him to sign EDM 1456.

EDM 1456 Samar Alami and Jawad Botmeh 18.06.02

John Austin: That this House notes that Samar Alami and Jawad Botmeh have always protested their innocence and that their 1996 conviction in relation to the 1994 bombings of the Israeli Embassy and Balfour House has been widely questioned; also notes the unanswered questions about the bombings, including the identity of the bombers; further notes that the prosecution scenario of an intelligence vacuum contrasts with the Israeli and British authorities having received contemporaneous prior warnings about imminent attacks by parties unrelated to Samar or Jawad; further notes that the disclosure process has been plagued by the repeated use of public interest immunity certificates and by human errors conceded by the prosecution, police, M15 and M16, resulting in crucial information being withheld from the trial judge; notes Amnesty International's concern that the pair were denied their right to a fair trial; further notes that the United Kingdom Government has received official representations from many politicians and Arab governments on this case; believes that winning the war against terror and the United Kingdom's reputation are ill-served by jailing the wrong people and leaving the actual bombers free; and calls on the Government to re-open the investigation, make its results publicly known, and address the human errors so that justice is done and seen to be done.

Signatures (23): John Austin - Robert Jackson - Elfyn Llwyd - Colin Breed - Rob Marris,

Lynne Jones - George Galloway - Brian Sedgemore - Mohammad Sarwar

Kevin McNamara - Alan Simpson - Jeremy Corbyn - John McDonnell - Harry Barnes

Ronnie Campbell - Derek Wyatt - Harold Best - Ann Cryer - Paul Flynn - Andrew George

Kelvin Hopkins - Sue Doughty - Neil Gerrard

Freedom and Justice for Samar Alami and Jawad Botmeh

Samar Alami

RL1436

HMP Cookham Wood

Rochester

Kent ME1 3LU

Jawad Botmeh

EP3888

HMP Frankland

PO Box 40 Frankland

Durham DH1 5YD

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