A former IRA prisoner who was abducted and beaten up at the weekend has said he will not be intimidated into ending his criticisms of the Sinn Fein leadership and its political strategy.
Mr Paddy Fox (29) from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, last night said he believed the Provisional IRA was behind the abduction in Monaghan. Several witnesses said the abductors were well-known members of the Provisional IRA's East Tyrone Brigade.
Mr Fox said he had feared for his life during the nine-hour abduction but would continue to speak out against the Sinn Fein leadership and the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Fox, who comes from a prominent republican family, received medical attention for head wounds and serious bruising.
"The Sinn Fein leadership can't deal with any criticism. This was clearly an attempt to intimidate me but it won't work," he said. "I am not a member of the 32-County Sovereignty Movement but I am an outspoken critic of the leadership and I will not be silenced." Mr Fox claimed the attack would have political repercussions for the Provisional IRA and Sinn Fein in Co Tyrone.
"It has not gone down well among grassroots republicans. I think it has backfired. They have made a major mistake. People are very angry about what has happened to me." Mr Fox was dragged from his car outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Monaghan around 2.30 a.m. on Sunday by five unmasked and unarmed men.
The Garda were contacted and search teams mobilised on both sides of the Border. Gardai had expressed concern that his life was in danger.
Mr Fox said he was badly beaten in the car and then driven to a forest where he refused to speak to his abductors. He was released around 11 a.m. yesterday and was picked up by his family on a roadside near the Border.
In an interview in yesterday's Observer newspaper Mr Fox said former IRA associates were out to kill him. Last night his sister, Ms Patricia Kearney, said her brother was abducted and attacked as a result. "Apparently it was what he had said in the article in the Observer," she said.
Mr Fox, who was released from the Maze prison in 1996, served six years for explosives offences. His parents were shot dead by the UVF in 1992.