Call to repeal Irish anti-terror law

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg

Sinn Fein has called for the repeal of the Republic of Ireland's anti-terrorist legislation following a European Court of Human Rights ruling that parts of the Offences Against the State Act compromises the right to a fair trial.

On Thursday the court ordered the Irish government to pay compensation to three men, who it said were wrongly jailed on suspicion of paramilitary activity and membership of the IRA.

The Irish government has said it examining the ruling.

But Sinn Fein's only member of the Irish parliament, Caoimhghin O'Caolain has said the Irish government must give a lead on human rights.

"The Irish government must not only fulfil its human rights obligations but, in the context of the peace process, it must also give a lead on human rights issues.

"I call for the repeal of the Offences Against the State Act, which have infringed civil rights in the 26 counties since they were first enacted in 1939.

"There needs to be a real debate on this issue and we need to hear the voices of the many people in this state who have suffered injustice as a result of the use and misuse of this legislation."

Strasbourg ruling

On Thursday, the European Court of Human Rights declared that Anthony Heaney, William McGuinness and Paul Quinn jailed in the 1990s for failing to account for their movements, should each receive £4,000 Irish punts damages and a total of more than £20,000 Irish punts in costs.

They all served six months in prison under the terms of the 61-year-old Offences Against The State Act after being arrested as IRA suspects.

The legislation, originally introduced at the start of the Second World War - known as "the emergency" in the Irish Republic - was reactivated in the early 1970s to deal with the then-developing disturbances relating to Northern Ireland.

No presumption of innocence

It is currently being reviewed in Dublin in line with a pledge made by the Irish government in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement on Northern Ireland.

Mr Heaney and Mr McGuinness unsuccessfully challenged their jailing at Dublin's anti-terrorist Special Criminal Court in the Irish High Court and Supreme Court before taking their cases - together with Mr Quinn - to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The Strasbourg ruling made - that the three men did not have fair trials or enjoy the presumption of innocence - was welcomed on Friday by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.

Solicitor Michael Farrell, a member of the council, who represents Mr Quinn, said: "Effectively this means that section 52 of the Act cannot be used any longer in the Irish legal system.

"The Irish courts could ignore this. But if they did, case after case would go to Strasbourg.

"There is now pressure on the review committee to bring out its report. There are other provisions of the Offences Against the State Act that are equally vulnerable to a Strasbourg decision."