The Belfast man detained by Israel on the word of British intelligence has told of his shock at being accused of training Palestinian bombers and rejected claims that he was ever a member of the IRA.
Seán Ó Muireagáin, 42, from west Belfast, finally arrived back in the cityafter a five-day prison ordeal.
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The Irish language enthusiast and journalist dismissed allegations linking him to the IRA.
Criticising the Israeli authorities, he said: "Everybody seems to have taken their word and all of a sudden I was the bomber and now I'm an IRA man.
"It's not true."
Asked if he had ever been involved in the republican movement, he added: "I have not."
Mr Ó Muireagáin was subjected to his ordeal after being the victim of mistakenidentity.
He was arrested, allegedly on the word of British military intelligence, near Ramallah last Saturday on suspicion of training Palestinian forces in explosives techniques.
He said he was strip searched at the side of the road on his arrest and was held in a cell where the lights were kept on for 24 hours a day.
At a press conference in west Belfast this afternoon, he told of his shock when he was detained and accused of being involved in a bomb-making plot.
He said: "They just kept asking me about bombs and making bombs and training people to make bombs. I was fflabbergasted."
Describing how he had travelled on his own passport, which clearly stated his identity, Mr Ó Muireagáin asked: "What kind of bomb-maker would I be?"
He also said his Israeli interrogators had personal details which he thought may have been supplied by UK intelligence services.
After the Israelis realised they had got the wrong man, he was flown to London last night and finally returned to Belfast today for an emotional reunionwith his distraught family.
But still he was detained for another three days, even though his visit to the region had only been as part of his work with the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, aimed at bringing children from the Middle East to Belfast on exchange trips.
During his imprisonment he also agreed to undertake a lie detector test in a bid to prove his innocence.
He added: "It was about 20 to 30 questions and at the end they went `Okay, soyou're not the bomber, you must be something else'
He said he paid his own fare home rather than wait the 2 weeks it could have taken for the Israelis to deport him.