FORMER ARMY officer Dr Ed Horgan claimed yesterday that the aircraft he had demanded gardaí search at Shannon airport last June had been to the US government’s Guantánamo Bay detention camp on seven occasions.
Dr Horgan made the allegation yesterday after being cleared at a special sitting of Ennis District Court of impeding an airport officer in the course of his duties at Shannon airport’s security entrance, and failing to leave the hut and the vicinity of the security barrier there on June 18th.
Judge Joseph Mangan dismissed the charge against Dr Horgan (63), Castletroy, Limerick, after accepting legal argument from Dr Horgan’s counsel, Tony Magillicuddy, that the summons as drafted was defective and that Dr Horgan had not been warned of the consequences of not leaving the security entrance area.
In evidence, airport police officer Brian McCarthy said Dr Horgan entered the security hut after 8am on June 18th and demanded airport police search an aircraft he believed to have originated at Guantánamo Bay. Mr McCarthy said that Dr Horgan refused to vacate the hut until his demand was acceded to. Mr McCarthy said he referred the request to police operations officer James Watston who refused Dr Horgan’s request and called the Garda. Dr Horgan also demanded gardaí conduct the search and they refused.
After Judge Mangan’s ruling yesterday, Dr Horgan said: “This case should never have been brought against me. The plane should have been searched and clearly I will go on exposing what is going on and looking for some accountability.”
In January 2005, Dr Horgan was cleared by Judge Mangan of entering by boat a temporary exclusion zone in the Shannon estuary on the day of the visit of US president George Bush in June 2004.
