'I'm no terrorist' - Israel detainee

Seán O Muireagáin said he was delighted to be back home

A Northern Ireland man who was held for questioning by authorities in Israel has arrived home to Belfast.

On his arrival at Belfast City Airport, Sean O Muireagáin, 42, said he was delighted to be home.

Speaking at a news conference in Belfast on Thursday, Mr O Muireagáin said he was "flabbergasted" at being questioned about bomb making.

"They were saying 'you're a terrorist and you're here to train people on how to make bombs'," he said.

"I was flabbergasted - I couldn't understand it."

Mr O Muireagáin said he had never been an IRA member, nor had he ever been involved in the republican movement.

Criticising the Israeli authorities, he said: "Everybody seems to have taken their word and all of a sudden I was the bomber and now I'm an IRA man. It's not true."

On Wednesday, the journalist was questioned by detectives from the Metropolitan Police when he arrived at Heathrow Airport on a flight from Tel Aviv, before avoiding waiting reporters by leaving by a private exit.

Mr O Muireagáin was arrested on Saturday by Israeli security forces reportedly acting on information from UK security services.

He said he was strip searched in the street after Israeli police stopped him outside Ramallah.

Cultural exchange

He was handcuffed and taken to a concrete cell where police kept the light on 24 hours a day.

The Irish language activist said he underwent a lie detector test and was asked about his Palestinian links through the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity group.

He said that his interrogators had personal details which he believes may have been supplied by UK intelligence services.

On Tuesday, Israeli radio reported that the arrest was a "mistake".

The station quoted officials saying that there were "increasing doubts" that the man who was arrested near Ramallah was the person Israeli police had intended to detain.

After his release, witnesses said he was taken directly to the airport in a police squad car.

He said that he paid his own air fare home rather than wait to be deported, which could have taken up to two weeks.

He said he was exhausted, very tired and just wanted to get some sleep Dessie Morgan Father

His father Dessie Morgan said the confusion could have arisen because his son is also known as John Morgan.

"Apparently, there were two John Morgans and they got the wrong one," he said.

His sister Carole, who was at the airport with other family members and friends of the Belfast man, said it was "fantastic to have him home".

"It has been horrific and there are no words to describe what we have been through," she said.

"This should not have happened at all."

His family said he had gone to the West Bank to promote a cultural exchange project.

The editor of a daily Irish language newspaper, La, said Mr O Muireagáin was working as its correspondent, whilst a Palestinian support group said he was one of its members.