Tánaiste welcomes appeal into the sentences handed down to those involved in the murder of Donegal solider

The Tánaiste has welcomed an appeal into the sentences received by people involved in the attack which killed a Donegal UN Peacekeeper. Simon Harris wrote to the Lebanese Government following the trial to express his disappointment at the leniency shown to some of the defendants found guilty in the murder of Private Sean Rooney who was originally from Newtowncunningham.  The main defendant at the military tribunal in Beirut last month was sentenced to death but others received short prison sentences or fines. Prosecutors have now formally lodged an appeal to the military Cassation Court.  The Tanaiste says those sentences did not fit with the nature of what happened to the UN peacekeeper: