Former hostage calls for suspects to be freed

Former Irish hostage Brian Keenan today called for three Irish suspects to be released from a Colombian jail and returned to their homeland.

The Belfast man, who spent five years as a captive in the Lebanon, said the men, Niall Connolly, James Monaghan and Martin McCauley, had not been charged with any offences by the Colombian authorities.

‘‘This is an issue of human rights and freedom and who knows more about that than me,’’ he said.

‘‘They say the first casualty of war is truth but in this first war of the 21st century I think the casualties of war are not only truth but justice, human rights and civil liberties.’’

The three men are waiting to stand trial in the Colombian capital Bogota after being arrested in August in possession of false passports.

The authorities suspect them of training terrorists in bomb making techniques as they had spent several weeks in an area controlled by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The episode caused huge embarrassment to republicans and, together with the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre on September 11, is believed to have prompted the IRA to begin disarmament.

Earlier this week Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams admitted that Mr Connolly had acted as his party’s representative in Cuba - a claim that had been earlier vehemently denied.

A campaign has been launched to persuade the Colombian government to free the three suspects.

Full page advertisements were placed in Irish newspapers at the weekend signed by a list of luminaries including Mr Keenan, folk singer Christy Moore and Irish Green Party MEP Patricia McKenna.

It is believed the trio could languish in prison for two years while lawyers compile a case against them. If convicted they could face up to 20 years in prison.