Inaki de Juana is a political prisoner in a prison in the Basque country. He has been in prison for the past 18 years and is one month into a hunger strike, the second one he has been on this year.
Both hunger strikes are in protest at his continuing imprisonment. He was due for release earlier this year but the Spanish government blocked it.
His first hunger strike lasted more than 40 days. It was provoked when the Spanish prosecuting authorities charged him with 'incitement to terrorism'; charges based on two articles written by de Juana in prison.
He ended his first hunger strike following an intervention by the Catholic bishop of San Sebastian when an agreement was reached with the Spanish prosecuting authorities that they would pursue less serious charges.
His imprisonment not only continued but he was then convicted on incitement charges and sentenced to a further 12 years in jail.
This harsh and vindictive treatment of de Juana symbolises the treatment of the Basque people by the Spanish state.
Furthermore the Spanish prime minister Jose Zapatero has not properly responded to the situation in the Basque country since, Euskadi Ta Azkatasuna, Eta, declared an end to their armed struggle in March of this year.
Eta's armed struggle for Basque independence from Spain has been going on for the best part of 40 years.
More than 800 people have been killed during the conflict, thousands of Eta activists have been to jail and life for the Basque people has resembled life at the height of the armed conflict here.
The population of the Basque country is just under three million. They are linguistically and culturally different from the Spanish and French people yet they are held against their will and by force of arms inside the Spanish and French states.
Eta was formed in the late 50s to oppose the attempts by the dictator Franco to suppress Basque nationalism by destroying their language and culture.
Franco banned all expressions of Basque identity. It was illegal to speak the Basque language, teach it in schools or baptise children with non-Spanish names. The Basque flag was banned as were all attempts to celebrate their national holidays.
Franco refused to allow the Basque people the right to decide their own future through an expression of national self-determination. Every Spanish government since Franco has denied this right to the Basque nation.
It is this denial which lies at the heart of the conflict.
Many times during the last 40 years Eta has declared ceasefires in an attempt to find a peaceful way forward. In all instances the Spanish authorities spurned these gestures.
Eight months into what most independent analysts believe is a serious attempt by Eta to permanently end armed conflict in the region, the Spanish government appears to be putting their efforts in jeopardy.
The response of the Spanish government to the Eta ceasefire should have included ending the ban on Batasuna, the main party campaigning for independence, ending harassment and beginning all party peace talks.
Eight months later Zapatero has not taken any of these steps.
Instead the Spanish courts have poisoned the atmosphere through a number of provocative decisions.
The president of the Basque parliament and other leading members of the PNV, a party similar to the SDLP, have been charged with meeting members of Batasuna. The equivalent here would have been the arrest of John Hume for speaking with Gerry Adams.
Ninety political activists from a range of political, media, cultural and social organisations are on trial for promoting radical nationalism.
The harassment of more than 650 political prisoners and their families continues.
The leader of Batasuna, Arnaldo Otegi, was denied permission to visit Ireland to learn about the peace process. That would be like banning Gerry Adams from going to South Africa.
Most worrying of all is the statement released last week from Spain's home affairs minister declaring that his government was banning any discussion about Basque independence from future negotiations.
Prior to this statement Eta had accused the Spanish government of 'wasting precious time'.
Zapatero would do well to study the Irish peace process and in particular how John Major and unionist leaders mishandled it.
He would learn a lot.
