DUBLIN (AP) — Seven Irish republicans, including three relatives of a senior reputed Real IRA member, have been arraigned on terror charges following a security sweep against militants trying to sabotage Northern Ireland’s peace process.
Three were charged with “directing terror,” a crime never before levied against a suspected Irish Republican Army member in Northern Ireland. Use of the charge suggests that police and Britain’s domestic spy agency, MI5, believe they have caught commanders of the Real IRA faction and intend to present evidence from surveillance, a key to such cases.
The three, who appeared Saturday in a court in Lisburn, southwest of Belfast, are close relatives of Colin Duffy, a reputed senior Real IRA figure who was acquitted in January of murdering two British soldiers. Four others were arraigned in Omagh.
