Extradition bid on 30th anniversary of ceasefire

The arrest and detention without bail of 61-year-old veteran republican Martin McCauley on foot of a British extradition warrant has been strongly condemned by republicans.

Sinn Féin has yet to comment on the attempted extradition to the north of Ireland of Mr McCauley in connection with legacy Provisional IRA charges dating from 1982.

One of three republicans who narrowly escaped a miscarriage of justice in Colombia in 2003, Mr McCauley is from Armagh but currently lives in Kildare. Arrested on August 22, he denies the charges. He has been refused bail with a further hearing due to take place on Wednesday, September 4.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Comhairle Uladh (Ulster Executive), Sinn Féin Poblachtach (Republican Sinn Féin) said it strongly condemned the arrest.

“The 26-County State has long collaborated with the British occupation of the Six Counties, particularly by extraditing Irish citizens for political purposes.

“Sinn Féin Poblachtach has always opposed political extradition and we call for the immediate release of Martin McCauley. We also call for an end to the criminalisation of Irish Republicans and extradition to so-called British justice.”

The extradition bid was motivated by allegations made by police working for the disgraced ‘Operation Kenova’, the British police legacy unit responsible for the cover-up earlier this year in regard to the actions of the double agent ‘Stakeknife’.

As a result, Mr McCauley is now being pursued by the PSNI over 42-year-old charges, contrary to Britain’s own amnesty legislation which passed into law in May this year which supposedly ended such prosecutions.

Crown prosecutors have claimed the decision to prosecute was taken in April, before the controversial new laws on the legacy of the conflict came into effect.

The legal quagmire over the case could exceed that which surrounded the extradition in 2019 of former IRA prisoner John Downey. The case was ultimately thrown out when it emerged he had received an OTR ‘On the Run’ letter from the British government providing him with a legally-binding guarantee that he would not be pursued over alleged IRA offences.

Andrew Moriarty, representing Mr McCauley in court, said they would be applying for bail and that Mr McCauley was “entirely anchored to this jurisdiction”. He also told the court that Mr McCauley has “indicated his preparedness” to be interviewed by PSNI Chief Jon Boutcher.

The timing of the move to pursue and detain Mr McCauley, on the thirtieth anniversary of the Provisional IRA ceasefire, is clearly a provocative and political act by the British authorities.

Lasair Dhearg said it sent solidarity to Mr McCauley following his arrest and called for his immediate release.

“This same process has previously seen Republicans face lengthy periods on remand in British gaols only to have the charges quashed at court,” they said.

“Britain has no right to request the extradition of Irish republicans on these dubious legacy charges and we are not surprised at the Free State colluding with the Brits to oversee this extradition request.

“History has shown that there is no justice in the British justice system or the Free State Criminal Courts, two institutions now supported by constitutional nationalists.

“The fact that Martin remains in custody in a Free State cell at the whim of the PSNI is a crime in itself.

“We call for the immediate release of Martin, so that he can return to his family, and an end to the collusion between the British and Free State forces that continue to victimise Republicans both north and south on the border on legacy issues.

“McCauley’s unjust detention, comes as a result of the much lauded ‘Operation Kenova’. Millions of pounds spent by the British State to investigate itself and the actions of informers throughout the conflict. The end result being a Republican living freely in the 26 Counties being arrested.

“The recent arrest of Martin McCauley concerning alleged actions committed more than sixteen years before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement brings into sharp focus the continued criminalisation of Irish Republicans, and highlights the abject failure of that agreement to resolve the core underpinnings of conflict in Ireland; occupation.”

Urgent Appeal