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Not the last we will hear of McKevitt case

MICKEY McKevitt will be sentenced today for directing terrorism and Real IRA membership. The entire trial has been sensational.
We've heard tales of potential Iraqi sponsorship for the dissidents and of former French foreign legionnaires capable of assassinating Tony Blair.
Many ordinary people, not just the Omagh relatives, will be delighted at the verdict. That isn't surprising but there are reasons for concern just as there are with the conviction of Johnny Adair.
Dodgy judgments are dodgy judgments regardless of what we think of the individual convicted.
The court heard FBI agent Dave Rupert, who infiltrated the Real IRA, was paid $1.25 million by the security services. McKevitt's defence say the sum is actually much more.
He also reached a deal with the authorities concerning a huge tax bill.
Supergrass trials were discredited here in the 1980s. Yet they've been reborn in the South.
At 6ft 7in Dave Rupert is a huge man. He stood as high as the first-floor jury box when he entered the courtroom. Except there was no jury there.
The Special Criminal Court is the equivalent of our Diplock courts. Three elderly male judges rule the roost.
It's all rather unsettling for this Northern visitor who is used to listening to Southern politicians moralising about British justice.
They flew thousands of miles to Bogota to monitor the trial of the Colombia Three.
But none managed the five-minute drive from the Dail to the Special Criminal Court for even a quick look-in.
The Special Criminal Court, which has more than a 95 per cent conviction rate, has been criticised by Amnesty International. The UN Human Rights Committee found the Irish government in violation of the right to equality before the law.
In 1976, the Association for Legal Justice said the court was not independent and had so abused the rules of evidence as to make it akin to a "sentencing tribunal".
The court had its own Birmingham Six when it convicted Oscar Breathnach, Brian McNally, and Nicky Kelly for the Sallins train robbery.
They said their confessions were made after beatings by the Garda heavy gang. Doctors discovered extensive bruising but the court found the injuries were self-inflicted.
McNally and Breathnach were acquitted on appeal and received substantial compensation. Kelly was eventually pardoned and won £750,000 damages.
No one is suggesting McKevitt was ill-treated or that he will win damages.
But he is set to appeal his conviction. This isn't the last we will hear of his case.