Ireland's high court has rejected a request to extradite a senior IRA veteran to the US over alleged links to a North Korean counterfeiting plot.
Sean Garland, a former Workers' party president, has been fighting extradition from the Republic of Ireland since his arrest in Dublin in 2009.
US authorities wanted to try the 76-year-old for his alleged role in the worldwide conspiracy involving so-called "super dollars" that the FBI among other security agencies alleged was linked to the regime in North Korea.
In a brief hearing on Wednesday in the Dublin court, Justice John Edwards said the court was not disposed to grant the application and will give its reasons on 13 January. A Workers' party spokesman said Garland was extremely relieved and delighted with today's ruling. The party thanked those who had backed the campaign to stop Garland's extradition.
Last week, English artist and rock musician Nick Reynolds visited Dublin to hand over his sculpted cast of Garland's head.
Reynolds, who has made artworks out of casts of train robber Ronnie Biggs and 19th-century Australian outlaw Ned Kelly, made a sculpture out of a cast of Garland's head.
The musician, whose band Alabama 3 played a concert to raise funds for the campaign to stop Garland's extradition, presented Garland with the sculpture when the band launched their album in Dublin.