Jerusalem Post Report: suspected IRA bombmaker is a reporter

Jerusalem Post ^ | July 15, 2003 | Yaakov Katz

[Mr. Mulliner]

Report: suspected IRA bombmaker is a reporter

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Yaakov Katz
Jul. 15, 2003

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The British media reported Monday that an Irish national who was arrested by security forces on suspicion that he came to Israel to train Palestinian terrorists, is a journalist and not a member of the Real IRA.

The Shin Bet confirmed to The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that the man was arrested Saturday afternoon and was being questioned.

Britain's The Observer reported on Sunday that a massive manhunt was under way for the Irish bombmaker, traveling on a British passport, who is believed to be a member of the extreme Real IRA faction and to have arrived at Ben-Gurion Airport three weeks ago.

The BBC identified the man as Sean O Muireagain, a journalist for the La newspaper in Belfast.

"He is a well-known Irish language and Palestine Solidarity Committee activist in Belfast and was reporting from Jenin for La and Raidio na Gaeltachta. He was arrested on his way into Ramallah," spokesman for the paper, Ciaran O Pronntaigh said.

Press Officer for the British embassy in Tel Aviv Neil Wigan told the Jerusalem Post that he could not confirm the report but did say that the embassy had put in a formal request to meet with O Muireagain.

"We've been informed by the Israelis that they have a British prisoner and we are pushing for consular access," Wigan said.

According to the report, O Muireagin was in Israel to report on events in the territories and had submitted a story from Jenin last week.

"On July 8, we published a full-page account from Jenin in the West Bank by Sean O Muireagain in our paper, a piece which was accompanied by his photograph, proof that he was in the occupied territories openly," the Irish paper said.

According to the Observer's report Sunday, the man, later named as John Morgan, co-owns an engineering business on the Northern Ireland-Irish Republic border, and is reported to be an expert bombmaker and a past member of the Provisional IRA.

[Ciexyz]

Kudos to Shin Bet for being on top of this.

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[King Prout]

hrmn... So he's a reporter. So what? Does that in itself mean he is not a Provao? Does that in itself mean he did not go to Israel to teach the insurgents how to make livelier crowd-pleasers?
Considering the Leftist streak among Western journalists, I do not find it at all difficult to imagine that such an one could both be a member of the Maoist IRA and, given his recorded pro-insurgent activities, a terrorist cadreman.
And, of course, since blood-bathed streets sell ads and papers... the general motive for the media to tolerate and cover for such a fellow - perhaps: many such fellows - is clear: Access, circulations, ratings.
We do remember CNN's cozy relationship with Saddam (at the expense of their professional relationship with the truth) now, don't we?