The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, this evening ruled out the intervention of the Government in the sentencing of the Columbian three. Speaking on RTE he said that while he believed the sentence "seemed very harsh" he stressed he did not wish to get involved in the business of criticising the Columbian judiciary.
Bertie Ahern: Ruled out Government intervention in 'Columbia three' case
Speaking earlier today, the Tanaiste Ms Harney took a similar view and said "every Irish citizen should be subjected to a fair trial."
Describing the FARC organisation as "dangerous" she said that she believed the Columbian authorities "obviously take these matters very seriously".
Sinn Féin's Mr Gerry Kelly has this evening confirmed he will travel to Columbia tomorrow to meet with the lawyers for the three Irishmen convicted of training with the FARC. He will be accompanied by one of the co-ordinators of the Bring Them Home campaign, Ms Caitriona Ruane.
The attorney general of Colombia has claimed the three Irishmen convicted of training Farc guerrillas in the South American country are at large outside its borders
Mr Luis Camilo Osorio said Colombia was seeking the help of the international community to recapture the men.
"Unfortunately, we know they left the country but we will try to find out what country has received them in order to see that justice is done," Mr Osorio told Reuters.
There was surprise in Irish Government circles yesterday when a Colombian court overturned a previous decision to aqcuit the men and sentenced Jim Monaghan, Niall Connolly and Martin McCauley to 17 years in prison on charges they were Irish Republican Army members who gave bomb-making lessons to the Farc rebel group.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, described the sentences as "very severe" and he said "none of these issues are helpful in respect of the evolving peace process".
Speaking in Brussels last night, he raised the prospect of repatriation if the men exhausted all legal avenues and remained in jail.
Colombian Attorney General's office
The trio had been thought to be hiding in Colombia pending the prosecution's appeal against their acquittal. They said they feared reprisals from Colombia's far-right paramilitary groups - known for killing rebel sympathisers.
"I believe it is possible [to capture the men] and that it is the obligation of the international community to collaborate with us in order to make that happen," Mr Osorio said.
The Colombian government claimed the three, who deny being IRA members, traveled to a rebel-held part of the country's south to instruct the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a 17,000-strong band known by the Spanish initials Farc.
The three were arrested at Bogota's airport in August 2001. But prosecutors failed in the original trial to prove the men were doing anything illegal beyond carrying false passports.
They admitted to meeting with the Farc and spending several weeks near a large guerrilla camp. But they said they were there to learn about peace talks, which subsequently collapsed.
Citing what it claimed was strong circumstantial evidence, the Penal Chamber of Bogota's Supreme Tribunal yesterday overturned a lower court's acquittal and issued an order for immediate capture of the three.
The tribunal said the presence of bomb-making materials on the clothing of the defendants, along with their knowledge of explosives and the fact they were carrying false documents, constituted strong enough evidence to convict.
"Even though this evidence in itself did not constitute full proof . . . it leads to the certainty of guilt," the attorney general's office said in a news release.
The Sinn Féin President, Mr Gerry Adams, expressed "anger and outrage" at the sentences. "This is a grievous miscarriage of justice, which will come as no great surprise given the record of human rights abuses by the Colombian government," he said.
The spokeswoman for the Bring Them Home Campaign, Ms Caitríona Ruane, also a Sinn Féin MLA, said: "We will be taking this to the international forum because there is absolutely no justice in Colombia."
Additional reporting Reuters