Robert McCartney's sisters Claire (left) and Catherine speak to the media in the Catholic Short Strand area of East Belfast, Northern Ireland, on March 10.

The leadership of the IRA said it had told the family of Robert McCartney that it was "prepared to shoot the people directly involved in the killing," which they had rejected.

McCartney, a 33-year-old father of two, was beaten and stabbed to death outside a busy Belfast bar Jan. 30 by a group later identified as IRA members.

McCartney's family accused the IRA of intimidating witnesses, and began a campaign to bring the killers to justice that attracted widespread support even in staunchly Roman Catholic areas of Belfast.

It also deeply embarrassed the IRA's political wing Sinn Fein, which has officially disavowed criminality in a bid to take part in politics and Northern Ireland's lengthy peace process.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 19, 2005
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