Campaigners for the three men being held in Colombia on terrorism-related charges have welcomed the decision by Mr Gerry Adams not to attend the US Congressional hearings tomorrow.
Both the Bring Them Home Campaignand the legal team representing Mr Jim Monaghan, Mr Niall Connolly and Mr Martin McCauley, had asked the Sinn Fein president not to attend the hearings in the interests of "fair trial and justice".
"We welcome the decision by Mr Gerry Adams not to go," said Ms Caitriona Ruane, a spokesperson for the Campaign.
"We made our concerns known to him, as did Mr Peter Madden, the men’s solicitor, saying that the hearings were inherently unfair and that they could prejudice the right to fair trial of the three Irishmen.
"Mr Gerry Adams has put fair trial and justice before his own party interests and we welcome that "
Ms Ruane believes the Congressional hearings have helped create a situation where people who should know better made prejudicial comments and endangered the lives of the three Irishmen.
"It is unfair because the three men or their legal team have no input, they will not be able to examine any material presented at the hearings or refute what is presented as ‘evidence’. All this will be broadcast around the world live.
"We raised our concerns about the possible prejudicial nature of the hearings at the United Nations last week," she concluded.