It has been claimed that an Algerian dissident has been snubbed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs because of pressure from the Algerian embassy in London.
Dr Mourad Dhina, European representative of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), is visiting Dublin for a conference today on "Political Islam".
Mr Brendan Butler of the Ireland/Algeria Solidarity Group said he believed the Algerian embassy in London had contacted officials here to point out that an Algerian extradition warrant had been issued for Dr Dhina's arrest.
A Department of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman said last night it was "not proper at this time" for representatives to meet Dr Dhina, but that Foreign Affairs officials had met members of the Islamic Salvation Front in the past. Dr Dhina met TDs, Mr Michael D. Higgins, Mr Joe Costello, and Mr John Gormley yesterday after the Dáil's Foreign Affairs Committee rejected a plea from Mr Higgins that the full committee should meet the visitor. Speaking to The Irish Times Dr Dhina said he lost his job in Geneva with the European Centre for Nuclear Research in 1995 because of groundless claims that he had helped supply guns to opposition groups in Algeria. In 1997 he won an action for slander against a Swiss policeman and an Algerian secret service agent in the Swiss courts, arising from those claims. Since then and previous to that there had been several applications to the Swiss authorities by Algeria for his extradition, but that these had been ignored in Switzerland.
He said he was "not happy" with the position the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs had adopted towards him, but he knew "relations between states do not follow what we think of as ethical or moral".
However he said he was "surprised" the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs did not meet him. Today's conference takes place at Unity House, 19 North Great George's Street, Dublin.
