Colombia Three go missing

The Colombian authorities have issued warrants for the arrest of the so-called Colombia Three following a Supreme Court ruling overturning their acquittal for training anti-government rebels.

Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan were each sentenced to up to 17 years in prison after yesterday's ruling, but their whereabouts is unknown and the authorities believe they may have left the country.

The three Irishmen, who all have republican connections, were found not guilty earlier this year of training the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Marxist rebel group that has been fighting the Colombian Government for 40 years.

However, they were ordered to remain in Colombia pending the outcome of the State's appeal and have been in hiding ever since.

Responding to yesterday's appeal, Sinn Féin MLA Catriona Ruane, a spokesperson for the Bring Them Home campaign, said the outcome was very questionable.

"In April, when the judge made his decision, he ordered an investigation into the two prosecution witnesses for perjury," she said.

"These two witnesses were brought to the case by the Attorney General's office. The Attorney General is the person who initiated the appeal and there was no new evidence."

Ms Ruane later said she had no idea of the men’s whereabouts.

“I do not know where they are at the moment,” she insisted.

“The last time I saw them was the night we took them out of jail in June.”

The campaign leader is planning to travel to Colombia in the next 24 hours to talk to the men’s lawyers and representatives from the country’s government.

But hardline unionists claimed the affair proved Sinn Féin was not fit to share power in Northern Ireland.

David Burnside, the Ulster Unionist South Antrim MP, said: “Sinn Féin have lied through their teeth the whole way through this whole exercise, including the involvement of their representative in Cuba.

“It’s time that both parties (UUP and Democratic Unionists) wised up and looked at a political process in Northern Ireland without Sinn Féin.

“It’s time we accepted the proof that republican Sinn Féin leadership still have a terrorist threat, still are involved in widespread criminality throughout the whole of Ireland, have links with international terrorist organisations.

“They are not fit to be in the government of Northern Ireland. It’s time we moved on.”