Hearing
Jeopardizes Lives and Due Process of
Colombian Three
Washington
D. C. Wednesday, April 24, 2002 --- The Chairman of the
House International Relations Committee (HIRC),
Congressman Henry Hyde has been accused of endangering
the lives and due process of the Colombian Three -- the
three Irishmen who are jailed in Colombia.
The
President of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National
Caucus, Fr. Sean Mc Manus, has said that the Hearing
being conducted today by Chairman Hyde "will do no
good to the United States
and a
lot of harm to Ireland by being seen as an attempt to
undermine the Irish peace-process .
Furthermore the Hearing will jeopardize the lives
and due process of the Colombian Three".
Fr.
Mc Manus pointed out what happened in 1989
when a British Government Minister used the House
of Commons to declare
that some Catholic
attorneys in Northern Ireland were too
sympathetic to the IRA -- three weeks later
Pat Finucane was assassinated by right-wing
extremists . " Now", said Fr. Mc Manus, "
Chairman Hyde is using the HIRC in a similar fashion to
brand the Colombian Three as IRA
men before they have had their day in court.
There is real danger that
Hyde's reckless
conduct will
be seen as an open invitation by right-wing extremists
in Colombia to assassinate the
three Irishmen.That is not the way to conduct the
legislative business of the American people, who do not
want anyone set up for assassination by the
irresponsible conduct of Congressional leaders", he
concluded.
