Congressman wants extradition of three

The chairman of the House of Representatives International Relations Committee has said the Irish Government should match its…

The chairman of the House of Representatives International Relations Committee has said the Irish Government should match its willingness to post bail for the "Colombia Three" with an equal willingness to extradite the three men back to Colombia.

Congressman Henry Hyde, who chaired a committee hearing on the three in April 2002, said the Government has "many reasons and obligations" to extradite the three, including UN resolutions and Interpol warrants, as well as their own willingness to post bail for the three men before they disappeared and re-emerged in Dublin.

Congressman Hyde, chairman of the most powerful foreign policy committee in the House, said he supported Colombia's vice-president Francisco Santos, who called on the Government to honour an international arrest warrant for Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan. "If it posted bail for the three, as some media accounts report, it must work to ensure that these three Irish citizens are returned to Colombia to face justice, and be held accountable for their actions in dealing with terrorists in our hemisphere," said Congressman Hyde.

In April 2004, the Government advanced €17,000 in bail money to the men on condition that it would later be repaid. The three fled Colombia while on bail and reappeared in Ireland earlier this month.

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Mr Hyde, a Republican, has long been a critic of the "Colombia Three" and has accused them of putting American lives at risk in Colombia.

In April 2002, he chaired a hearing on links between international terrorist groups and the Colombian rebel group Farc.