Britain's Queen Elizabeth today makes an historic first visit by a British monarch to Ireland since the country gained independence from the UK in 1921. But the shadow of the country's "troubles" in Northern Ireland hangs over the trip.

A veteran Irish militant who appeared at a rally last month where masked gunmen threatened new attacks was jailed on Monday.

Terrorism Act

Marian Price, 57, who served 20 years of a life sentence for bombing London in the 1970s, was returned to prison after the government revoked her parole license. She was charged over the weekend under the Terrorism Act in connection with the rally.

"The risk of serious harm posed by Marian McGinchey has increased significantly," Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson said in a statement, using Price's married name.
"The government will not hesitate to use all the powers at its disposal under the law to counter the residual terrorist threat," Paterson said.

Price is a prominent member of the nationalist 32 County Sovereignty Movement, which voiced opposition to Queen Elizabeth's visit to the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday - the first by a British monarch since Irish independence in 1921.

War crimes

Price was filmed at a rally by dissident group the Real IRA in Londonderry last month standing next to a spokesman in paramilitary uniform who read out a statement threatening to kill more police officers.
The statement called for opposition to the queen's visit, saying she was "wanted for war crimes in Ireland".

Price was arrested at her west Belfast home last week and appeared in court in Derry on Monday charged with encouraging support for an illegal organisation.

The judge granted her bail on the charge, but was told her parole licence had been revoked by the government and she was to be returned to prison immediately.

Peace Agreement

So-called "dissident" Irish militants have mounted a renewed campaign of violence in opposition to the 1998 peace agreement which largely ended three decades of violence in Northern Ireland and set up a power sharing administration in Belfast.

Two other dissident suspects, a 25-year-old man and 26-year-old woman arrested in South Armagh, also appeared in court in Northern Ireland on Monday on terror charges linked to the activities of dissident republicans.

Marian Price and her sister Delores became known after they were convicted of carrying out a 1973 IRA bombing campaign in London during which they targeted the Old Bailey courts with a bomb which injured over 200 people.

Freed on licence in the early 1990s, Price emerged within a few years to voice concerns about Sinn Fein's political direction and joined the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, a group closely associated with dissident militant group the Real IRA.

Bloody Sunday

Last year the British government made a public apology for the Bloody Sunday killings of 14 unarmed civilians by British paratroopers in Derry in 1972. But rights groups claim that, despite the findings of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, there is still a lack of accountability and insufficient adherence by the British army to national and international law.

Whether Queen Elizabeth, as UK Head of State, could be held accountable for war crimes seems a rather far-fetched notion: up to now, the Queen has not been prosecuted for command responsibility for war crimes by an international court.

Furthermore, there has been only a handful of cases where British soldiers have faced prosecution in British courts. But critics say such cases are ineffective - even if a soldier is found guilty, the British Army refuses to regard a conviction for murder as grounds for dismissal.

Diplomatic immunity

The British Monarch is traditionally regarded as having diplomatic immunity from prosecution. But whether or not Queen Elizabeth is above the law has become an awkward question now facing politicians, lawyers and constitutional experts.

Diplomatic immunity for a Head of State is considered as questionable because modern human rights standards mean that nobody is above the law. In practice, under international law no one is immune from prosecution for war crimes and crimes against humanity. That means that kings, queens and presidents around the world - are all subject to accountability.