My son is innocent, says father of man wanted by FBI over child porn

THE father of an Irishman described by the FBI as "the largest facilitator of child pornography on the planet" says his son is completely innocent.

US authorities are seeking to extradite Eric Eoin Marques (28), inset, to the state of Maryland to face charges of distributing, conspiring to distribute and advertising child pornography – as well as aiding and abetting advertising of child pornography – as part of a major international investigation.

According to the FBI, the charges relate to images on a large number of websites which are described as being extremely violent, graphic and depicting the rape and torture of children.

If convicted, New York-born Marques, who came to Ireland aged five, faces up to 30 years in prison.

Mr Marques has run a web-hosting company from his Dublin city-centre apartment for the past eight years.

He is suspected by the FBI of being the founder of Freedom Hosting, one of the biggest anonymous hosts in the 'dark' or hidden web, where people can share files without being traced.

Yesterday, his father, Antonio Marques, told the Irish Independent: "All I can say is that my son is completely innocent. All he was doing was renting web space."

Mr Marques (60), who worked for Irish Rail for more than 15 years and now works for Etihad Rail in the United Arab Emirates, claimed that his son had stipulated to customers that he would not tolerate illegal activity on the websites.

"He doesn't allow it," said Mr Marques. However, he acknowledged that illegal material had been discovered on sites hosted by his son's company.

"There is something bad in there, but it is nothing to do with him," he said.

Mr Marques said his son, who has both Irish and US citizenship, should not be punished for the crimes of others.

"If I rent (out) an apartment and somebody does a crime in it, am I to be (prosecuted)?"

Mr Marques refused to confirm whether or not his son's home had been searched by gardai, but said: "It's been said they found bad things in the apartment, but that is not true."

The United States has nine days to formally request Mr Marques's extradition.

Following a brief appearance at the High Court yesterday, Eric Eoin Marques (28) was remanded in custody until Thursday of next week.

The court heard that the 28-year-old was arrested last Thursday in Dublin on a provisional warrant and refused bail last Friday morning.

Dressed in black jeans and an Adidas T-shirt, Eric Eoin Marques stood at the back of the packed court flanked by prison officers during the short hearing, with members of his family nearby.

Ronan Kennedy BL, for the Attorney General, had asked the judge to remand the suspect for another week in anticipation of a formal request for extradition from the US, which he said would be received and certified by Mr Shatter by then.

The accused can be held for up to 18 days for a request, he said, adding: "If at that juncture a formal request for extradition is not received and not certified by the minister, Mr Marques will be released."

Mr Justice Paul McDermott warned Mr Kennedy that "time is running out" before granting the application.

No objection was made by Marques's legal team.