Irish protestor Joe Moffatt was arrested in the early hours of the morning of Sunday July 22nd in Genoa. He was imprisoned for three days before the Irish consulate in Italy was informed. He was charged with posession of a dangerous weapon, which was a swiss army knife he had been using earlier in the Albaro campsite to open a bottle of wine. Reportedly he was also under investigation for stabbing a police officer with the same knife. This was a complete fabrication and was used to hold him in a prison on the outskirts of Genoa for over two weeks.

Joe was released by the Italian authorities and returned home to Dublin last night. He arrived back in Dublin airport around 10pm to rapturous applause. His girlfriend Rena was there to welcome him.


Reports from other media:

The Irish Times:

 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2001/0809/hom7.htm

The Irish Independent:

 http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=490336&issue_id=5031

An interview with Joe Moffatt on Morning Ireland, a programme on RTE (Irish State Radio)

 http://www.rte.ie/news/2001/0809/morningireland/morningireland2a.ram