The IPB strongly condemns the imprisonment of Tarak Kauff and Ken Mayers, US Veterans for Peace activists, and calls on the Irish authorities for their immediate release.
Update on 29.03: Kauff and Ken have been released on bail, but are still prevented from leaving Ireland. We stand with Veterans for Peace in urging the Irish authorities to lift all charges and allow the activists to return to their home country.
“Following a nonviolent protest conducted by a group of US Veterans for Peace activists at Shannon Airport, in Ireland, Tarak Kauff and Ken Mayers were detained by Irish police forces. Since then, the former US servicemen – aged 82 and 77 – have been held without bail, which was denied by the Ennis District Court.
The peaceful protest on the airfield aimed to call attention to the extensive use of Shannon Airport as a landing and refuelling spot for US military planes, carrying troops and armaments. In 2017, the Irish government approved the shocking figure of 334 applications for military flights to land at Shannon Airport, in spite of Ireland’s status of “neutral country”.
A Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, the IPB is dedicated to the vision of a world without war. Our international network is comprised of more than 300 individuals and civil society movements and organisations in 70 countries, all committed to advancing peace by nonviolent and democratic means. US Veterans for Peace, to which the detained peace activists are affiliated, was founded in 1985 and is one of our most active member organisations.
Through this statement, IPB condemns the detention of Kauff and Meyers and calls on the Irish authorities for their immediate release. Furthermore, we stand with US Veterans for Peace against Ireland’s involvement in any stage of other country’s military operations, reminding the authorities of their commitment under the neutrality status.
Berlin, 27 March 2019″
Click here for the PDF version of this statement.