You wouldn't have thought it could be done but the Americans did it: they took a man whom the world despised and turned him into an object of pity.
The Butcher of Baghdad became a dishevelled underdog, bullied and bloodied by 600 US combat troops. Iraqi journalists may have whooped at his capture, George Bush may have done handstands in the White House ('2004, here I come!'), but most of the rest of the world winced with something approaching sympathy as this weird figure had a torch shoved into his mouth and God knows what into his other parts once the camera was switched off. But Saddam will have at least one consolation: he'll get a fair trial, if only because Bush and Blair won't want to give their political enemies a chance to portray them as leaders of an international lynch-mob. Not so three Irish men who face a third Christmas in prison, thousands of miles from home.
There are two possible reactions to the case of Niall Connolly, Jim Monaghan and Martin McCauley. The most common one, and that favoured by unionist politicians, is 'They were travelling in Colombia under false passports, they've got republican/IRA backgrounds – of course they're guilty.' No need for further evidence – toss them in prison, it's where they belong.
So ingrained is this reaction in the unionist community that David Trimble was and is able to cite it as a reason for collapsing the assembly and no one has bothered to ask him if this isn't a case of pre-judging – or prejudice – in action.
The other response to the case of the Colombia Three is to admit the awkward fact that there's a difference between being charged with a crime and being found guilty. There's also a difference between being faced with the prospect of a fair trial and a trial where normal rules of evidence and impartiality don't apply.
Have a look at these facts and then decide which category Connolly, Monaghan and McCauley fit into.
- They are being charged by the forces of a state where collusion is widespread and consistent.
The UN Commission for Human Rights has provided detailed accounts of human rights abuses by members of the Colombian armed and security services. Working with right-wing paramilitary forces, the state has arranged for the abduction and killing of thousands of academics, students, agricultural workers – in fact any opposition. Since 1986, nearly 4,000 trade unionists have been assassinated.
- The prison in which the three Irish men are being held puts their lives at risk. When Irish TD Finian McGrath visited the three Irishmen, he heard stories from other prisoners of repeated deadly attacks by right-wing paramilitary prisoners on the section containing the Irish men.
The manhole cover on which McGrath was standing while listening to the account was used to dispose of some of the bodies.
- Former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson reported on human rights in Colombia in 2002.
She said the rule of law there was "in grave jeopardy as a result of the lack of a proper administration of justice".
- Tests on the three men which claimed to have found traces of explosive residue were judged flawed by British expert Dr Keith Borer.
The tests were conducted in a military locale where various types of explosive residue could well have contaminated any findings.
- Video-tape evidence shows that at a time when the Colombian authorities claim Jim Monaghan was in Colombia training Farc guerrillas, he was in fact in Ireland speaking at a conference.
Sile Maguire, an official at the Irish embassy in Mexico, testified that Niall Connolly was having a meal in Cuba with her and an all-party delegation from the Irish Oireachtas, at a time when the prosecution claimed that he was in Colombia.
The men are guilty of one crime: they travelled on false passports and have admitted as much.
For that offence they have now served more than two years in prison under conditions that mock the notion of human rights.
Despite the fact that the evidence adduced by the prosecution is laughable in its leakiness, there is a real prospect that, in the coming weeks, the three Irishmen could be sentenced to as long as 18 years in a Colombian prison.
It's easy to spot a decent government and decent politicians. They're the ones who speak up, where necessary scream and shout for the rights of those with whom they have little political sympathy. Inside the next month, we'll get a chance to see what the Irish government and Irish politicians are made of.
Happy Christmas.
