Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
SCOTTISH DOC REMANDED AMID ‘NEW IRA’ INQUIRY
Two more face the court over Operation Arbacia
A GP is among the latest people to be remanded into custody as part of a major police investigation into the New IRA.
Issam Basalat, 62, of Telford Road in Edinburgh, is accused of preparation of terrorist acts in relation to his attendance at an alleged meeting of the New IRA at an address at Buninver Road in Omagh, Co Tyrone, on July 19.
David Jordan, 49, of Cappagh Road in Dungannon, Co Tyrone, also appeared at Belfast Magistrates Court yesterday.
Jordan is accused of belonging to a proscribed organisation between February 8 and July 20 and directing a terrorist organisation.
He is also accuse of preparation of terrorist acts through attending the same gathering at Buninver Road in Omagh, as well as attending a meeting in Sixmilecross on February 9.
Both men appeared remotely by video-link from Musgrave police station and there was no application for bail.
Basalat’s defence lawyer said he used to chair the Palestinian Society in Scotland and has also spoken at the Scottish Parliament.
He added: “He has addressed a number of political groups on a number of political issues in an entirely peaceful and democratic way, nor has he come to the attention of the police for any of those activities.”
He said his client had been “pestered” to attend and address a public meeting he believed had an “exclusively political purpose”, while in Northern Ireland to obtain a passport for his daughter.
He went on to claim that his client had been “entrapped” by an MI5 agent.
A defence lawyer for Jordan said issues have been raised around the transcript of some of the evidence.
A PSNI detective chief inspector said officers have “extensively looked at all the processes around the acquisition and indeed the timings in relation to the recordings… we are more than content that the rules of evidence have been complied with and that there are no inaccuracies in relation to the material obtained and indeed that were put during interview”.
Jordan’s lawyer also contended his client had been lured to attend the meetings and brought “under false pretences”.
District Judge Fiona Bagnall said she was “satisfied that the bar has been crossed in order to connect these defendants to the charges which are before the court”.
A bail hearing for Basalat is to be heard on September 9.
A total of 10 co-accused will appear before Belfast Magistrates’ Court on September 18.
They were arrested as part of Operation Arbacia, a PSNI inquiry into the dissident republican group which was blamed for the murder of journalist Lyra Mckee in Derry last
year.