He said the medical evidence in her case meant 
extradition would be "unjust and oppressive".   A Home 
Office spokesperson said Roisin was now free. 

Roisin had been detained by British authorities for 
sixteen months with no clear evidence to link her to an 
IRA attack on German soil in 1996.  But tonight the 
Home Office has abandoned the case only days before St. 
Patrick's Day protests on behalf of the young Tyrone 
woman and other Irish political prisoners are due to 
take place worldwide. 

Her mother, Mrs Bernadette McAliskey, prominent 
Republican and former MP for Mid Ulster, said from her 
home in Coalisland, Co Tyrone: "I'm relieved and 
delighted. 

"We can now concentrate on getting her well again." 

Roisin was arrested, while pregnant, at her home in 
Tyrone. She was held in the notorious Castlereagh 
Interrogation center for six days and vindictively 
questioned for twelve hours a day, one hour on and one 
hour off. She was then flown to London and thrown into 
a filthy, feces-smeared cell in an all-male prison. 

Only an international outcry forced her transfer to a 
female prison -- where she was strip-searched over a 
hundred times and told that she would be forced to give 
birth shackled to a prison guard. 

The appalling conditions inflicted on Roisin while 
carrying her new-born child, Loinnir, had been 
condemned by human rights groups such as Amnesty 
International and Human Rights Watch. 

Roisin's doctors had recently accused the British 
government of adding to her suffering by baiting her 
with non-existent visits by the psychiatrist appointed 
by the British Home Secretary. 

But the psychiatrist's assessment is apparently the 
basis on which Straw has ordered the extradition bid 
ended. 

The Dublin-based Sunday Tribune reported yesterday that 
Roisin's release was imminent after the psychiatrist 
said her mental health had been seriously undermined by 
the trauma of her imprisonment at Holloway jail, and 
had continued to deteriorate while being held at the 
secure wing of a London psychiatric hospital. 

He is also believed to have said she would be unable to 
face further interrogation on the allegations against 
her. 

Both the British and German governments had been under 
sustained pressure to end their torture of Roisin in a 
major international humanitarian campaign for justice. 
The Home Office statement eventually announcing the 
decision made bitter-sweet reaading for campaigners. It 
said that Straw considered the medical evidence in her 
case would make the extradition "unjust or oppressive", 
and that he had explained his decision to the German 
government -- but the Germans have long had no desire to 
pursue the case following protests which included pickets 
at Lufthansa offices and boycotts of German beer 

"It does not reflect in any way on the fairness of the 
German legal system or on the quality of the 
extradition request," the statement read, and in a 
parting remark, it concluded that the Britain enjoyed 
"excellent relationships" with Germany for 
"international co-operation against terrorism". 

But human rights groups and supporters across the world 
have expressed their delight at the announcement. 

Sinn Fein's Mid-Ulster MP, Martin McGuinness strongly 
welcomed the decision.  He wished Roisin a speedy 
return to full health and praised her family, friends 
and solidarity groups worldwide who had campaigned on 
her behalf. 

John Wadham, director of the civil rights group 
Liberty, welcomed the move. "It's a decision that 
should have been taken many months ago but it's still 
important that it's happened now."