MY CONNECTION TO REV HANDA by Ciaron O'Reilly Giuseppe Conlon House plowshares activist/ Catholic Worker

7th anniversary of the death of Rev Handa killed in a tractor accident at the temple

- July 1996 the nuns & monks of the Milton Keyenes were constantly present outside the court meditating & beating their prayer drums during the the

1996 trial & acquittal of the "Seeds of Hope Ploughshares"
VID (26 mins) East Timor/ Seeds of Hope Ploughshares documentary, 1996
 http://tinyurl.com/og2nou9

- I met Handa as we walked for peace trough the north of Ireland in the summer of 1996. 10,000 plastic bullets were fired by British forces that summer.

- 1996-99 Handa would travel to Liverpool and on to Lancashire to provide a provide a contemplative presence for our nonviolent resistance actions at British Aerospace Warton in solidarity with the suffering of the people of East Timor. British Aerospace were profiting form arms sales to the Indonesian dictatorship that had invaded & occupied Eat Timor, killing 1/3 of the population.

BAe infiltrated the Liverpool Catholic Worker, its agent "Alan Fossey" played a significant role in smashing & evicting the community. "Fossey" had served in the north of Ireland with British forces in 14 intelligence company
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14_Intelligence_Company

- 2000/01 Handa, Srs. Astride, Yuko & Marta hosted me at the temple as I did full time pre-trial support for the then remanded Jubilee Ploughshares

- Chirstnas 2000 srs. Astirde, Yuko Marta & Handa nuns and monk stood vigil for a week outside Bedfford Prison in solidarity with Catholic Worker/priest/Jubilee Ploughshares prisoner Fr. Martin Newell

- March 2006 Handa joined us in Dublin at the first trial of the Pit Stop Ploughshares

- August 2007 He was killed in August 2007, by the tractor he maintained & worked at the Milton Keynes temple he had largely & literally built. i attended the inquest held in Milton Keynes


THIS THE OBITUARY I WROTE & posted on Irish indymedia at the time, photos & other condolences
 http://www.indymedia.ie/article/83925