SUE ME CHALLENGE OVER OMAGH BOMB
Sue me' challenge over Omagh bomb
BY STEPHEN GORDON
TWO alleged Omagh bombers were last night thrown down a "come and sue me" challenge by a leading anti-terror campaigner.
Vincent McKenna sensationally "named and shamed" two men he claimed were Real IRA terrorists at a political rally in Belfast.
Mr McKenna, spokesman for the Families Against Intimidation and Terror group, made the allegations in front of 250 delegates at the UK Unionist party's annual conference. He identified two Dundalk based republicans who he claimed were part of the Real IRA's Omagh bombing team. Later, outside the south Belfast hotel where the conference was held, he said it would be hypocritical of the two men he named to take legal action against him.
Tory backbencher Andrew Hunter recently threatened to "name and shame" Omagh bomb suspects in the House of Commons.
But the MP had an 11th hour change of mind following appeals from the RUC and Ulster Secretary Mo Mowlam who feared his actions could jeopardise any future prosecutions. Mr McKenna publicly named the men without the protection of Parliamentary privilege.
That means the way is open for the two men he named to sue him. Mr McKenna also claimed there was no way so-called dissident Republicans could have carried out the Omagh attack, or raided arms dumps as the provisionals claimed this week without the sanction of IRA leaders.
The FAIT spokesman also detailed recent attacks and accused the Government of effectively tolerating certain kinds of terrorist activity for political expediency. He said 72 people were shot by paramilitaries last year while 165 had been mutilated and hundreds more exiled and intimidated. "Unless somebody seriously addresses terrorism and stops pandering to terrorism then we are in for difficult times said Mr McKenna.
BY STEPHEN GORDON
TWO alleged Omagh bombers were last night thrown down a "come and sue me" challenge by a leading anti-terror campaigner.
Vincent McKenna sensationally "named and shamed" two men he claimed were Real IRA terrorists at a political rally in Belfast.
Mr McKenna, spokesman for the Families Against Intimidation and Terror group, made the allegations in front of 250 delegates at the UK Unionist party's annual conference. He identified two Dundalk based republicans who he claimed were part of the Real IRA's Omagh bombing team. Later, outside the south Belfast hotel where the conference was held, he said it would be hypocritical of the two men he named to take legal action against him.
Tory backbencher Andrew Hunter recently threatened to "name and shame" Omagh bomb suspects in the House of Commons.
But the MP had an 11th hour change of mind following appeals from the RUC and Ulster Secretary Mo Mowlam who feared his actions could jeopardise any future prosecutions. Mr McKenna publicly named the men without the protection of Parliamentary privilege.
That means the way is open for the two men he named to sue him. Mr McKenna also claimed there was no way so-called dissident Republicans could have carried out the Omagh attack, or raided arms dumps as the provisionals claimed this week without the sanction of IRA leaders.
The FAIT spokesman also detailed recent attacks and accused the Government of effectively tolerating certain kinds of terrorist activity for political expediency. He said 72 people were shot by paramilitaries last year while 165 had been mutilated and hundreds more exiled and intimidated. "Unless somebody seriously addresses terrorism and stops pandering to terrorism then we are in for difficult times said Mr McKenna.
Further Information
Publisher: SUNDAY LIFE
Ref: SL/082
Published Date: 07-Feb-99
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