Sinn Féin President Mr Gerry Adams is set to reveal if he will testify at a US Congressional hearing on alleged republican links to Colombian rebels.
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Mr Gerry Adams speaking at the Northern Assembly yesterday. Photograph:PA
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Republican sources say there is a "strong lobby" within Sinn Féin urging him not to go to Washington tomorrow.
"Many people are of the view that we cannot ignore what the families of the three men, their lawyers and campaigners are saying," a source said. "They have concerns about the prejudicial nature of anything that might be said in the hearings".
The US House of Representatives' International Relations Committee wants to question Mr Adams on links between republicans and the Colombian FARC militia.
The hearing follows the arrests of Mr Niall Connolly, Mr Martin McCauley and Mr James Monaghan in Colombia last August on suspicion of training Marxist rebels.
Mr Adams discussed the invitation to Washington with Northern Assembly minister Mr Martin McGuinness, party chairman Mr Mitchel McLaughlin and other leadership figures.
Campaigners for the three Irish men in Colombia renewed their criticism last night of the US hearings under the chairmanship of veteran Republican Party Congressman Henry Hyde.
Ms Catriona Ruane, a spokeswoman for the Bring Them Home Campaign, said they were urging the Sinn Féin leader not to attend the Capitol Hill committee hearing "in the interests of a fair trial".
PA