Free Michael Now * * * Michael Shields WINS judicial review !!! * * *

Putting this here to get Maximum notice !

Free Michael Now!

Michael Shields is innocent, found guilty by a Judicial System that has no hint of the ideas of Justice and Fairness in its processes, and remains incarcerated in the UK, having been transferred from his Bulgarian Jail on payment of the £90,000 compensation to the victim of a terrible crime.

But Michael is a victim too. A victim of a miscarriage of justice. Arrested and forced to wear a t shirt he hadn’t been wearing that night for an identity parade. Handcuffed to a radiator, just yards away from passing witnesses. Having his head forcibly shaved to make him look more like the stereotypical “thugâ€. Michael was found guilty and despite many eye witness accounts, and a signed confession from another man, Michael remained locked up. He was transferred to the UK after the compensation was paid, following donations and support from Michael’s family and friends and members of the public, many of them Liverpool fans aware it could easily have been them.

Throughout all this, the UK government have done little to support Michael. Despite Bulgaria’s insistence that he does have the power to do so, Jack Straw claims he is unable to free Michael. So the family have taken the next step. On Thursday 4th December, Michael’s legal team and his family will hear the High Court in London carry out a Judicial Review of Jack Straw’s decision to refuse a pardon for Michael.

Ahead of the Judicial Review, Spirit Of Shankly, the Liverpool Supporters’ Union, will be helping the fight to have Michael, our member number 1, freed. We will be supporting the family in this continuing fight. A number of initiatives have been planned in the run up to 4th December, and what will hopefully be a decision that finally sees Michael brought back home to his family.

On Tuesday 25th November 2008, a coach filled with mothers who empathise with Maria Shields, Michael's mother, will set off for London where a press conference will be chaired by Louise Ellman, MP. Maria Shields will then hand in a letter for Sarah Brown, the Prime Minister's wife, at 10 Downing Street asking her to support the campaign to free Michael. This will be followed by a demonstration outside the Ministry of Justice at 11 am. Any mothers wishing to take part should email admin@spiritofshankly.com to register their interest, although places are limited.

A delegation from the Shields' family and Spirit Of Shankly will go to Blackburn to raise the issue of Michael's case in Jack Straw's constituency, and draw on more support.

On Monday 1st December at the West Ham United game, this is the opportunity for all of us, to stand with Michael, and his family, in their bid to have him freed. A banner will be held up at the front of the Kop, saying Free Michael Now, during You’ll Never Walk Alone. After this has finished, fans on the Kop will be asked to hold the mosaic up ‘Free Michael Now’, until the 3rd Minute of the game, whilst chanting “Free Michael Nowâ€. The 3 minutes is symbolic, a minute for each of the years Michael has spent locked up. The players will also be visually showing their support for the campaign.
SOS are looking for volunteers to help set this up the mosiac in the afternoon before the game, please email admin@spiritofshankly.com if you are able to help.

On Thursday 4th December 2008 when the Judicial Review takes place, Michael’s family and supporters will travel to the High Court in London, for what we all hope will be a landmark decision that will see Michael rightfully freed.

There are also other ways to get involved. Sign up to the Free Michael Shields group on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=2210918089&ref=ts) and show your support or contact your local MP to highlight the case to them (http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/commons/l/).

Spare a few minutes for a young lad who has lost three years of his life.

Free Michael Now!

The Shields Family & Spirit Of Shankly

 

Sos has alot of aims and has done some great work on alot of counts so far, and will continue fighting for the fans, i know what your saying james about our "custodians" and the work will continue!

the support of michaels case is great to see, he is one of us and its plain to see the lad had been wronged, and he is also a victim in this as is the waiter who was injured, the government has been to slow to act on this and shoild be ashamed of their part in it !

 

By Brian Reade 22/11/2008

On tuesday actress Sue Johnston will hand over a petition to Gordon Brown's wife in Downing Street.

Hang on, you're thinking. What's a luvvie taking part in some right-on cause got to do with me, a football fan? Well everything actually.

Sue will be there with a coachload of women, one of whom, Maria Shields, hasn't seen her 22-year-old son Michael since he was dragged from his hotel bed by Bulgarian police a few nights after seeing his team win the 2005 Champions League Final in Istanbul.

A week on Thursday a Judicial Review will decide if, three-and-ahalf years later, this government has the power to make Shields a free man after the Bulgarians washed their hands of his case. Hang on, you're thinking. What's a Liverpool fan empathising with a fellow Scouser got to do with us? Again, everything.

Michael's tragic story is not about one club or one city, it's about a young man being denied his freedom, despite legal experts, MPs, clergymen and ex-detectives saying the conviction is appallingly flawed.

Despite new witnesses coming forward to swear he was in bed at the time and authorities at home and abroad knowing his innocence is almost certainly beyond doubt.

And he remains behind bars for one reason. He was caught being an English football fan abroad. And when that happens you own no rights and earn no sympathy. That's why Michael's plight should concern you.

In May 2005 a waiter was attacked in a Black Sea resort and police went to a hotel to arrest the culprit. He wasn't there, so they tried the room next to his, where 18-year-old Shields was sleeping.

They made him put on a white T-shirt (the same colour as the attacker's) and drove him to the crime scene where he was put on show before witnesses.

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At the police station he was cuffed to a radiator for 16 hours, while witnesses walked past to an ID parade made up of Shields and three Bulgarians. After shaving his head to make him look like a stereotypical hooligan, a judge gave him a 15-year jail sentence (reduced to 10 on appeal) despite there being no DNA or forensic proof, four witnesses swearing he was asleep, the hotel concierge saying he saw him go to his room, and another man, Graham Sankey, signing a confession admitting the crime.

A retired British detective re-examined the case for a TV special and said he was "appalled" at the conviction. Fair Trials Abroad called it a blatant miscarriage of justice.

When supporters raised £90,000 needed to pay his fine, Bulgaria repatriated Shields and told our government they could release him if they wanted. He took, and passed with flying colours, a Home Office lie detector test. Yet still he remains behind bars.

Justice Minister Jack Straw (despite telling the family there is powerful evidence to support Michael's innocence) says he doesn't want to set a precedent whereby anyone jailed abroad demands freeing on return to Britain.

Shields's legal team say this is an exceptional case, which is why they've been granted a Judicial Review to decide if Straw has the power to release him.

And I hope every football fan joins me in wishing his family all the best in this final throw of the legal dice. Remember this.

Had Shields been a public schoolboy on a gap year this government would have had him out in weeks. He's been denied his freedom simply because he's a working-class football fan.

And if you accept that, you accept that whenever you follow your team abroad it's OK for police to fit you up, courts to believe them, and our so-called 'football friendly' government to turn a blind eye to a human rights travesty.

Michael Shields has been denied his freedom because he is a working class football fan. It's why his plight should concern you