25/11/2008

No Paramilitary Burial For Shoukri

A funeral service for the 34-year-old former UDA boss, Ihab Shoukri, who died at the weekend, will take place in a church close to his family home later this week - without any paramilitary trappings.

It will be held at the Holy Trinity Parish Church, Ballysillan on Thursday, and he will then be buried close to his adopted home in Rathcoole - in Carnmoney Cemetery.

Given frictions within the loyalist paramilitary organisation - and the fact that the Shoukri brothers were 'expelled' from the illegal organisation - no UDA-style funeral is expected.

Shoukri died suddenly at the weekend following a reported drugs overdose. The former paramilitary godfather was jailed for 15 months in June for his part in UDA show of strength in a north Belfast bar, but was released earlier this year.

His brother, Andre, also a prominent loyalist, is currently serving a sentence in prison. It is not yet known if Andre will be freed on compassionate grounds fot the funeral.

Ihab had been living in Rathcoole with his girlfriend Emma Evans, a widowed mother-of-two.

It remains unclear as to how exactly the loyalist actually died. Family and friends are awaiting post mortem details, but it is believed Shoukri had been susceptible to epileptic fits - something that would be complicated by drug abuse.

(BMcC)

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