Guardian Staff and agencies

Thursday October 11, 2001

An American web site accused of

supporting the Real IRA has been shut

down at the request of the FBI as it

cracks down on terrorist groups, it

emerged today.

The New York-based web site -

iraradio.com - contained an archive of

weekly radio programmes said to back

the dissident republicans.

Travis Towle, the owner, today claimed

that the FBI asked his internet service

provider to stop giving web space to the

site or face having its assets seized as a

backer of terrorism.

"They just yanked us," Mr Towle told the

New York Daily News.

"I think what is going on is being done out

of fear."

John McDonagh, a native of Queens, New

York, said that his show - broadcast every

Saturday afternoon - would go on. He

claimed IRA stood for Irish Republican

Activist and denied he had any connection

to the Real IRA.

"If I was running a Taliban web site 15

years ago, I would be considered a patriot

helping the American cause," he added

"Today, I would be considered a traitor. It

is getting to be difficult to predict who the

government is going to call a terrorist."

Despite Mr McDonagh's claim that he

would go on broadcasting, a statement on

the web site said Mr Towle's Cosmic

Entertainment Group had shut it down.

"In light of the foregoing and the recent

tragic events in the United States, the

Cosmic Entertainment company board of

advisers has deemed it advisable and in

the best interests of the company to

temporarily shut down the iraradio.com

web site until the turbulence and

uncertainty facing our nation has

decreased."

The FBI refused to comment on the shut

down for security reasons.

The Real IRA is banned from raising funds

in America and anyone found giving them

cash can be prosecuted and jailed.

It is one of a series of organisations designated

as a terror group, on a list that also includes

Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and Hezbollah.