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AUGUST 27, 2003

Ciarán Ferry says he rejected FBI offer of freedom for spying

Ferry told federal Judge James P. Vandello, who presided over the day-long hearing, that he refused an FBI offer to be a government "mole." "Why would I thrust my family into a dangerous situation I'm trying to escape from?" Ferry said. "I think it's disgraceful."

Ferry, who is being held in the Denver County Jail on an alleged visa violation, told a Boulder Weekly reporter in May that FBI agents had visited him the day after he was taken into custody. According to a story in August in the Colorado-based paper, he was told he could return home that day if he agreed to work for the FBI, keeping tabs on the activities of an IRA splinter group on the East Coast.

The U.S. government maintains Ferry is a threat because of his ties to the Provisional Irish Republican Army, which U.S. officials deemed a terrorist group before the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

"The IRA has killed a lot of innocent civilians. Is that correct?" Scott Johns, assistant chief counsel under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, asked Ferry. During the hearing, Johns acknowledged the FBI's discussions with Ferry.

The original offense the British authorities charged Ferry with was "Possession of Weapons and Conspiracy to Murder Persons Unknown" after finding him a passenger in a car that contained automatic weapons in the trunk. British authorities maintained he was part of an IRA assassination team, while Ferry maintained that he and his two IRA cohorts were heading to a secret IRA training camp.

Ferry was convicted in a British Diplock, nonjury court. After serving 7 ˝ years of a 22-year sentence, he was released in 2000 from the infamous H-Blocks of Long Kesh as a condition of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, along with many other IRA prisoners.

The immigration proceeding included testimony submitted in writing, from a number of respected Irish and U.S. authorities, according to the Irish American Unity Conference's Deanna Turner, an observer at the hearing. Among those providing expert witness were author and activist Don Mullan, photographer Oistin MacBride, Father Des Wilson, the Pat Finucane Centre, and former California legislator Tom Hayden.

According to the IAUC, in some six hours of testimony, the court heard explanations of the Good Friday Agreement, non-jury Diplock Courts, political status, and the pattern of discrimination in Northern Ireland toward Irish Catholics and republicans.

Vandello limited Ferry's amnesty hearing, held in Aurora, Colo., to eight hours instead of the four days requested by his attorney, who stated that conveying the complexity of politics in Northern Ireland required the additional time.

While acknowledging Ciarán's case as unusual, Vandello said that a backlog of cases prevents him from giving Ciarán's hearing more time.

"I know we're not going to get a fair shot in court," Ferry's wife, Heaven, told the Boulder Weekly shortly before the hearing. "The hope I had is long gone."

According to news reports, Ciarán does have other options for remaining in the United States, including a pending case in federal district court.

Vandello stated at hearing's end that he would issue a decision in 30-45 days.

Ferry moved to Colorado after his release from prison with Heaven, an American citizen, but on one visa document, he did not indicate he had been convicted of a criminal offense. U.S. authorities contend that Ferry's visa was falsified. Ferry was arrested in January and has been in jail ever since. His case has attracted global attention and support, particularly from Irish-American groups.

Heaven Ferry has said she believes the family would be in danger in Ireland because her husband's name appeared on a unionist paramilitary hit list. — Tom Madigan, Associate Producer (tmadigan@thewildgeese.com)