Ono Denies Lennon Gave To IRA

Yoko Ono, the widow of former Beatle John Lennon, on Monday denied a newspaper report that her husband may have given money to the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

"My husband did not give money to the IRA. My husband gave money when it was asked (for) by people who were in need," Ono said in comments broadcast on Spanish state radio. Ono was in Spain for an exhibition of her work as an artist.

The British weekly newspaper The Observer said Sunday it had seen a court statement by a former spy that said he was shown secret files that included references to Lennon - famous for his bed-bound protests for peace - giving money to the IRA.

According to the former MI5 officer, David Shayler, the British security service files also say that Lennon gave money to the official IRA, before it split in the early 1970s, when the Provisional IRA - responsible for the subsequent terrorist campaign - was formed.

The files also referred directly to Lennon's support for the Trotskyist Workers' Revolutionary Party (WRP), whose members included actress Vanessa Redgrave, the newspaper said.

The paper said the statement by Shayler claimed a British intelligence source within the WRP said the late pop star, who was shot dead in 1980 in New York, had contributed tens of thousands of pounds (dollars) to the WRP as well as funding the IRA.

Lennon, who joined "Troops Out" marches and once held up a sign saying "Victory for the IRA against British imperialism" at a London rally against internment without trial, was known to support an end to British rule over Northern Ireland - a goal of the IRA.

The Observer reports that after the FBI received the MI5 documents, it stepped up its surveillance of Lennon and Yoko Ono in New York, with its agents even transcribing the lyrics of songs Lennon sang at demonstrations.

Two of the songs on Lennon's "Sometime in New York City" album strongly criticize the English presence in Northern Ireland.