The case of the Colombia Three could be brought to the Washington-based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), a leading campaigner for the three Irishmen said in the Colombian capital at the weekend.
The commission is equivalent to the European Commission on Human Rights and Ms Caitríona Ruane MLA, of the Bring Them Home Campaign, said she and one of the defence lawyers, Mr Pedro Mahecha, had already held preliminary discussions with the IACHR during a visit to Washington.
Ms Ruane, who was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for Sinn Féin in last year's elections, expressed caution about persistent reports that a verdict in the case would be delivered today. "We have learned that rumours abound in Colombia and things can change at the last minute."
Mr James Monaghan (58), Mr Martin McCauley (41) and Mr Niall Connolly (38) are charged with training FARC rebels in IRA bomb-making techniques and with travelling on false documentation. The trial concluded on August 1st last year, but so far there is no verdict in the case.
Ms Ruane said it would be "a major international miscarriage of justice" if the three were convicted of training the FARC. An appeal would be lodged "immediately" with the appropriate judicial body in Colombia.
If such an appeal proved unsuccessful, a petition to the IACHR would be one of the options under consideration. "They are very interested in this case and they are watching it very, very closely," she said.
She said the Colombian authorities knew the Bring Them Home Campaign would respond appropriately if the case went against the men: "We will definitely go international and we will launch a massive campaign."If the men were freed by the court, she hoped they would be back home with their families as soon as possible.
Since there is no Irish embassy in Bogota, the Netherlands embassy is acting on behalf of the Irish Government. "They are very aware of all the issues," she said.
The charge of using false passports had been "wrongly framed", according to Ms Ruane. "They should have been charged with impersonation.
"The documents themselves were authentic documents, they are not false: what you have is people impersonating or using other identities. Under Colombian law that is not a serious charge. They are not even Colombian documents, so what should have happened is that they should have been deported."
The Bogota-based El Tiempo newspaper reported at the weekend that the judgment would be announced today. The expected sequence of events is that the judge, Dr Jairo Acosta, will arrange for the verdict to be communicated initially to the men in their cell at La Modelo Prison, outside the capital.
The media will then be invited to a press conference in the city's Palace of Justice, where a more senior member of Colombia's Higher Council of Justice will formally announce the verdict on behalf of Judge Acosta. The time of the press conference was not released at the weekend, nor was there any reliable indication as to the nature of the judgment itself.
Senator Mary White of Fianna Fáil arrived in Bogota on Saturday night and went to visit the men at La Modelo yesterday morning.
Ms White has visited Colombia six times already, at her own expense, to observe the case and will be making a full report on her findings to the Taoiseach and to her colleagues on the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee.
Given the disturbed state of Colombian society, concerns have been expressed over the safety of the three men, whatever verdict is announced. Ms Ruane said she was concerned because the men would no longer be under the protection of the judge as soon as his judgment was issued.
"They are under threat, but the threat increases from the minute the verdict comes, either way," Ms Ruane said. At that stage they came under the jurisdiction of the quasi-military body which had responsibility for the prisons. She called on the Irish Government to make representations to the Colombian authorities to ensure the men's safety.