MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ireland willing to hand IRA suspects to Colombia

The Irish government called Wednesday on the three suspected IRA members who fled Colombia after a conviction on terrorist-training charges to turn themselves in to the national police

Irish Deputy Prime Minister Mary Harney said police have not been able to locate the men and asked anyone with information about their whereabouts to contact authorities.

Ms. Harney called on Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, who she said knows where the men are, to come clean in the case. Sinn Fein is the political wing of the Irish Republican Army.

Ireland's Department of Justice said last Saturday it would "consider" any request for assistance - presumably extradition - from Colombian authorities regarding the three suspected IRA members, who fled a criminal conviction in a Bogotá court.

Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan were arrested in Bogota's airport in August 2001 on their way to Paris after visiting a region of southern Colombia that was a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) stronghold.

The three, charged with training FARC guerrillas in terrorist tactics, were held in a Bogota jail until April 2004, when a judge acquitted them, though ordering them to remain in Colombia.

Nevertheless, on prosecutors' appeal, a higher court convicted them in December 2004 sentencing them to 17 years in prison. By then, the Irishmen had disappeared and surfaced in Ireland late last week.

On Friday, Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos called on Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern to requesting extradition of fugitives.

Mr. Monaghan told Ireland's RTE network last Friday that the men were not willing to return to Colombia if the appeal of their convictions, filed after they had fled, was rejected. He insisted in their innocence, saying they travelled to the South American country "in good faith" and "to learn about the peace process".

However Ms. Harney labelled his statements "laughable" since "those three individuals were not normal tourists on a visit to Colombia".

Under pressure from Britain, United States and the European Union, the Irish government has said that the three men could even serve their sentences in Ireland.

"The question of the three men serving their sentences here in Ireland in the event of extradition proceedings being unsuccessful is one of the issues which the government has been considering" Ms Harney admitted to Ireland's UTV.

IRA suspects' defence attorneys in Colombia said there was no Ireland-Colombia extradition treaty, specifically since Ireland won its independence from Britain in 1921.

However Ms. Harney warned that the men "should not underestimate the government's determination to explore all the options open to it to ensure that Ireland continues to play its full part in the fight against international terrorism".

The minister said the government "would consider" any extradition request presented by the Colombian government, although none has yet been made, but the Irish courts will have the final say".