RIRA terror designation prompts court challenge

By Jack Holland

A move to challenge the federal government’s recent designation of the Real IRA and two of its support groups as illegal came last week in a court in Washington, D.C.

The challenge emerged following an earlier ruling involving the designation of the Iranian People’s Muyahideen. In that case, the court found that the State Department was obliged to hold an internal hearing and disclose unclassified information relating to the designation of the group as illegal in the U.S., blocking entry for its representatives and fund-raising activities here on its behalf.

Lawyers for the 32-Sovereignty Committee and the Irish Republican Prisoners’ Welfare Association, both of which were designated as fronts for the RIRA, are basing their action on that finding.

It is expected that the State Department will appeal the court’s ruling on the Iranian People’s Muyahideen, which could delay the Irish case.

Those who opposed the designation, including Sinn Fein, on the grounds that it would exaggerate the significance of the RIRA and its support network in the U.S., are now claiming their arguments have been justified by this latest development.

However, a spokesman for the British government, which campaigned hard for the designation to be made, dismissed this objection, saying that the decision was based on the evidence presented to the federal authorities, which clearly demonstrated that the RIRA and its supporters represented a threat to U.S. interests.

Lynn Bernabei, the lawyer representing the 32-County Sovereignty Committee and the prisoners’ welfare group, said that "there is nothing on the public record that shows these groups are terrorist."

The State Dept., she said, "must be relying on intelligence."

She is arguing that if "due process means anything," her clients "have a right to see it to rebut it."

There has been much speculation among Irish-American activists about the nature of the evidence accrued by the authorities. John McDonagh of the New York-based Irish Freedom Committee said he believes that "a lot of that stuff is Dave Rupert stuff." Rupert, a former activist with the Chicago group calling itself the Irish Freedom Committee, is getting ready to testify against Michael McKevitt, the alleged leader of the RIRA, who is currently facing terrorist charges in a Dublin court.

However, federal guidelines concerning the nature of the material needed to warrant a designation specify that enough of it has to be of an unclassified nature to convince a court without compromising intelligence.

Pressure from Britain to specify the RIRA and its support groups as illegal in the U.S. provoked controversy, with republicans maintaining that since the organization had almost no support in the U.S., the move would be counterproductive, giving them publicity. It was also alleged that the Irish government was less than enthusiastic about the proposal, tending to side with the Sinn Fein view. But in public, Dublin supported London and the designation was made in May.

Martin Galvin, who acts as spokesman for the 32-County Sovereignty Committee in the U.S., said that the Muyahideen ruling was significant.

"This is extremely new," he said. "Before the government’s position was, we don’t have to show you anything. If it follows the ruling, it will have to disclose unclassified material."