Ex-Maze prisoner can stay in US, judge rules

A Los Angeles judge has ruled against the US government, saying a barman convicted over the murders of two British soldiers in Northern Ireland committed a “purely political” crime and should not be deported.

Immigration Judge Rose Peters said the motive of Sean O’Cealleagh was not grounds for his removal from the United States, said Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“The judge ruled against the government. We believe the judge’s decision is in error,” she said.

Kice said O’Cealleagh was being held at a processing centre and the government had 30 days to appeal.

“We are reviewing the matter to see whether we can keep him in custody,” she said.

Jim Byrne, a lawyer for O’Cealleagh, did not immediately return a telephone call.

O’Cealleagh, 35, of Westminster, California, was arrested on February 25 on a plane at Los Angeles International Airport after returning from a family visit to Northern Ireland. O’Cealleagh spells his name in traditional Gaelic, but is identified as Sean Kelly in British legal documents.

The government was seeking his deportation for committing a crime of “moral turpitude”.

O’Cealleagh, a Catholic raised in west Belfast, was one of three men given life sentences in 1990 for their roles in the murder of the two British corporals in 1988. His lawyers argued the conviction was politically motivated.

The plainclothes soldiers were pulled from their vehicle after being discovered during a funeral for an IRA member. The two soldiers were beaten and forced into the Casement Park sports stadium, then whisked away to another area and shot dead. The IRA later claimed responsibility for the killings.

O’Cealleagh was convicted for aiding and abetting in the murders. He and two others who became known as the ”Casement Three” were sentenced to life under the ”common purpose” legal theory that was criticised by human rights groups.

O’Cealleagh spent eight and a half years in the Maze prison and was freed in 1998 under the Good Friday peace accord. He emigrated to the United States in 1999 and was granted permanent residency in 2001.

He has an American wife, Geraldine, and a three-year-old son.