A Basque convicted terrorist living in Belfast will today fight an international extradition warrant issued by the Spanish authorities.

Iňaki de Juana Chaos was freed from a Spanish jail in August amid a storm of public protest. He had served 21 years of a 3,000-year sentence for murdering 25 people in eleven attacks by the Basque separatist terror group Eta.

The Spanish authorities are seeking Mr de Juana in connection with a charge of “incitement to terror” because he allegedly read a statement in support of Eta at a rally of supporters upon his release.

Mr De Juana denies that he wrote or read the statement. He fled Spain immediately after his release to escape the highly-charged publicity. He flew to Dublin and lived briefly in the house of James “Mortar” Monaghan, a former director of the Provisional IRA’s “engineering department”.

Monaghan was found guilty by a Colombian court of training the powerful Marxist group Farc – the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – in IRA-style bomb-making skills.

Monaghan and two accomplices fled Colombia while on bail and resurfaced in Ireland. Colombia’s request for their extradition was turned down on the grounds of there being no extradition treaty between the two countries.

Last week Monaghan’s house was searched by Irish police and an improvised explosive device was taken away. Four people were arrested at the house, not including Monaghan.

Mr De Juana gave his address in Dublin while applying through the Spanish embassy for a new passport. The application was denied. Kevin Winters, a lawyer in Belfast for Mr de Juana, said his client was fully co-operating with the authorities, but it is expected that he will argue against extradition in court today.

The lawyer is expected to argue that since his client is co-operating there is no need for the extradition to proceed and that Mr de Juana is prepared to assist the Spanish court from Belfast.

Eta is blamed for killing 823 people in its 40-year campaign of bombings and shootings for a Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwestern France.

The most deadly attack involving de Juana took place in July, 1986, when 12 members of the Civil Guard police force were killed in a bomb blast in Madrid.

Jailed in 1987, he qualified for early release in 2004 but was sentenced to a further three years over threats he was alleged to have made in a Basque newspaper.

He went on hunger strike in protest before doctors intervened to force-feed him after 66 days.

The Spanish government had planned to hold Mr De Juana under house arrest after being released from hospital, but he was returned to prison when Eta ended its ceasefire in June 2007.

His sentence was later reduced on appeal and he was released in August. Thousands of Spaniards protested against his release, claiming that the government had done a secret deal with Eta.

It is understood that the Public Prosecution Service in Belfast is deciding whether the alleged crime for which he is sought in Spain has an equivalent in British law. The international arrest warrant seeks to question him about being a “terrorist apologist”.

The nearest equivalent would be incitement to hatred, but since it carries a maximum sentence of six months it does not fall under the parameters of the warrant. Qualifying offences require a minimum one-year sentence.

Mr De Juana’s solicitors have told the Spanish authorities that he is prepared to answer the charge via video link from Belfast.

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