Free Republic

Omagh bombing trial gets started DNA evidence links man to 1998 massacre, court is told By Jonathan McCambridge 25 September 2006 The trial of the man accused of murdering 29 people in the 1998 Omagh bomb massacre finally got under way today. Belfast Crown Court was told that DNA and fibre evidence could connect 37-year-old Sean Hoey to the no-warning Real IRA explosion and a number of other dissident republican attacks. Hoey, from Molly Rd, Jonesborough, who denies a total of 58 terrorist offences, sat in the dock in Court 12, guarded by two court officials, as the Diplock trial...

Sinn Fein accuse McDowell of 'posing' as tough on crime Sinn Féin spokesperson Aengus O Snodaigh TD today accused Minister for Justice Michael McDowell of "headline grabbing" and posing by adopting a tough stance on crime. In his statement Mr O Snodaigh supported suggestions that overcrowding at Mountjoy contributed to the death of Gary Douch in July adding: "More prisons and bigger prisons is not the answer." The Dublin south-central TD said: “After the tragic death of Gary Douch in Mountjoy Prison at the end of July, the Irish Prison Service rejected suggestions that Mountjoy was overcrowded, or that overcrowding...

IRA 'has ceased its criminality' The IRA is no longer involved in any centrally organised criminality, the British and Irish governments believe. Speaking after meeting Irish ministers, NI Secretary Peter Hain said cross-border intelligence indicated the IRA was living up to its commitments. Mr Hain said individual IRA members may still be involved in criminal activities, but that should not prevent political progress from being made. However, the DUP's Nigel Dodds said Mr Hain was "living in fantasy land". "This latest assessment from the secretary of state lacks credibility and will be treated by the vast majority of people in...

Police in Belfast tonight warned the family of Robert McCartney, the murdered father of two, of threats from “criminal elements” to have them burnt out of their homes and business. Catherine McCartney revealed she and her four sisters Paula, Gemma, Claire, Donna and Bridgeen Hagans were told of the threat tonight. “They told us that the threat to burn us out of our homes and to burn down Donna’s business came from criminal elements,” she confirmed. Police visited the homes of the McCartney sisters just days after the European Parliament backed moves to secure funding from the EU for a...

Editor's note: Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin is an online, subscription intelligence news service from the creator of WorldNetDaily.com – a journalist who has been developing sources around the world for almost 30 years. By Yoram East © 2005 Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin Documents confiscated by European intelligence and law enforcement agencies show Irish terrorists, including the Irish Republican Army, are working once again with Islamic terror organizations in the Middle East. According to these documents, IRA officials were in touch during the last two years with Islamic groups, non-jihadi Palestinian groups and criminal elements dealing with various types of smuggling....

Sinn Fein chief Martin McGuinness has warned the family of IRA murder victim Robert McCartney to back off.With one of the sisters threatening an electoral challenge to the party, the Mid Ulster MP claimed the campaign to bring the killers to justice could be left open to political manipulation. They could risk popular support, he told the family. Clearly rattled by the intensity of the crisis engulfing Sinn Fein, Mr McGuinness said: "The McCartneys need to be very careful. "To step over that line, which is a very important line, into the world of party political politics, can do a...

The IRA: What went wrong? Bloodshed likely if Sinn Fein splits over murderous acts of `hard men,' says Gwynne Dyer The implosion of the Irish Republican Army has been so sudden and complete that it seems to defy explanation. For 30 years, the banned IRA commanded the loyalty of a large part of Northern Ireland's Catholic population and had significant support in the Republic of Ireland as well. Only months ago its legal political wing, Sinn Fein, was still seen as a necessary partner in a power-sharing government that would finally restore self-government to Northern Ireland. And now, in a...

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Reuters) -- The United States has demanded that the IRA disband after the guerrilla group's astonishing offer to shoot the killers of a murdered Northern Ireland Catholic man. "It's time for the IRA to go out of business," U.S. special envoy Mitchell Reiss said Wednesday. For the IRA's political ally Sinn Fein, Northern Ireland's biggest Irish nationalist party, the U.S. demand was yet another blow to its democratic credentials. Reiss told BBC radio: "It's time for Sinn Fein to be able to say explicitly, without ambiguity, without ambivalence, that criminality will not be tolerated. "You can't sign...

Mechanic Finds Live Bomb Under Car During Oil Change Car Owner Linked To Group That Funds Irish Republican Army   POSTED: 12:19 pm EST November 5, 2004 UPDATED: 12:44 pm EST November 5, 2004   A mechanic performing a routine oil change discovered a live bomb underneath a car apparently rigged to explode when the driver turned the vehicle's lights on, according to Local 6 News.         Police said Jim Panaro drove his car to Donald's Auto Repair shop located at 57th Avenue and Johnson Street in Hollyood, Fla., after he noticed wires dangling under the...