Colombia three moved following concerns for their safety

The three Irishmen who are being held in prison in Colombia on suspicion of training rebel fighters have been moved to a different location “for their own safety”.

The men, who have become known as ‘the Colombia three’, were transferred by Colombian authorities after their lawyers argued that they were not being held in a suitably safe environment.

A judge granted the request for a move and he ordered that Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan should be moved to the high-security wing of La Picota Prison in the capital city of Bogota.

It is not clear if the three feared an attack from fellow inmates or from prison guards.

All three men deny the charges that are being held against them and say that they were only in rebel-held territory because they wanted to discover first-hand how the peace negotiations between the rebel group and the Colombian Government were going.