At the beginning of september the Basque political prisoner Inake de Juane is 5 weeks in hunger strike and 15 kilos lighter. Everywhere in the Basque country people demand his release on the streets. 400 people signed a document in which they declare that they are 'co-writers' of the articles in the Gara ( for which De Juana received an extra 96 years of prison, after he served his time of 18 years). On 10th september the Ertzaintza heavily beats up a group of 30 people who chained themselves out of protest. Various people have to go to the hospital, including bystanders. There are another 6 very ill people still in prison by the way, that should be released on article 92 of the Spanish prison law. Another 9 people are still in prison even though they served their full sentence. On september 20th it seems that De Juana is force-fed in the prison hospital by order of the Spanish High court. The situation around De Juana is very explosive; the general opinion is that a peace process will be further away than ever in case he dies

During the first week of september the mother and one sister of the Basque political prisoner Ibai and Mikel Aiensa got involved into a traffic accident while being on the way to the prison of Monterroxo, 1280 kilometers away from the Basque country. the other son is in Cordoba, 1614 kilometer away.

In Altasu (Naffaroa) 4000 people demonstrate on september 9th in favour of self determination of the Basque country and to give a new impulse to the peace process. Batasuna symbols were not allowed to be carried and Batasuna members were not allowed to out themselves as such. The organizers had to report to the investigation judge Garzon in Madrid, as usual.

On september 25th Batasuna hands over her file about the 'law of the parties' (Batasuna was illegalised as a consequence of this law) to the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. First of all Batasuna had to fight its prohibition at all Spanish juridical instances before they could present their case in Strasbourg.

The forum of Ibaeta, that consists of various social organizations as the Basque parliament ask attention for the politics of prisoner dispersion and demand of the Spanish state to end it and to hand over the prison law of the Basque Autonomous community tot the Basque country.

On september 29th 10000 people demonstrate in Donostia after a call of the prisoners aid organization Etxerat ! (Home !).

The campaign for self-determination of the Basque country on september 30th managed to mobilize about 140000 people to 5 manifestations. Reason for the manifestations was the impasse in the peace process.

A proposal of Eusko Elkartasuna (EA) in the Spanish congress to abolish the notorious 'incommunicado'-detention is voted off by the PSOE, which calls it 'a guarantee in the fight against terrorism'. This kind of detention can last up to 7 days, without the right to see a lawyer. Experience says that prisoners make self-accusing statement, forced by torture of the Spanish police, the Guardia Civil or the Ertzaintza. Many prisoners are sentenced to long terms in prison because such declarations. Between february 2003 and july 2005 116 people are arrested in the Spanish and French Basque country. All of the accused of 'belonging to the apparatus of member raising of ETA'. On september 7th the process against the first 18 Basques begins. Most of them deny and declare to be tortured in the first days after their arrest, some of the are not more than 16 years old. They denunciated themselves of things they did not do; 2 of the arrested declared that they observed a council member of the UPN (a sister party of the PP) in Naffaroa. The house of that person did not even exist, seemed afterward. On september 22nd it became evident that no one, not even the prosecutors, has seen the documents on which the arrests were based. The French police had passed them to the Spanish secret service, which decided to proceed to the arrest without controlling the facts. The 27 witnesses of the public prosecutor were all police men, with 1 exception.

The Mass-process '18/98' against the Basque left pro-independentist movement goes on. We hope to come back to this in more detail in a regular issue of the 'Euskal Herria Newsletter', that should be published this year.

On september 23rd the 'Gudari Eguna' ('Day of the Basque fighter') was celebrated on a mountain in the neighborhood of Oiartzun. On september 27th in 1975 the Basque young men Txiki and Otaegi were executed by Franco and this day is claimed to remember 'the Basque fighters from then and now'. 1500 people were present, that saw 3 masked men appear, armed with rifles, who read a message of ETA: "Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) wants to bring a strong greeting to all fighters, present this day. The Gudari Eguna is not a day to look back to, but to look forward to. We cherish the memory of all comrades that preceded us and the way they followed and that serves us as an example. This day has to serve to increase the effort of today and tomorrow in the service of personal responsability regarding the freedom of Euskal Herria. The struggle is not over. It is the present and the future. We shall be free people only if we continue the struggle like the Gudari before us did. To form a front against the repression of Euskal Herria is an unconditional duty to guarantee the survival of our people. On this road, full of obstacles, no one will give us something for free. The chance to reach the freedom of Euskal Herria is in our harts and in our hands. Let us construct the independence by our daily deeds. This is the message that ETA wants to deliver to you today. We believe that we will continue to fight on with weapons in our hands until Euskal Herria is independent and socialist. We are prepared to give our blood to reach this goal and we shall reach it ! The slogan of this year is 'Izan zirelako izango gara' 'We are, because others were before us'. Long live the Basque fighters ! Long live the free Basque people ! Long live socialist Basque country ! Until the independence and socialism!" After reading this declaration the 3 fired shots in the air and disappeared in the forrest.

The reactions were predictable; according to Zapatero ETA should be active only with politics and according to the Partido Popular the negotiations have to be stopped.