Amnesty International Ireland could face criminal charges after an Irish regulatory body found it broke the law by accepting a donation from George Soros’ Open Society Foundation for an abortion rights campaign.

Ireland’s Standards in Public Office Commission informed the human rights advocacy group that it had breached Irish law by accepting funds from a foreign donor and may face criminal investigation, Amnesty International Ireland said in a statement.

READ MORE: Soros sheltering $18bn that American tax authorities can never touch

The organization says the €137,000 grant received from the Open Society Foundation (OSF) last year was used to support a campaign to ensure abortion laws in Ireland comply with human rights.

Amnesty blasted the law as draconian, and defiantly stated it would not comply with the order to return the funds.

“Amnesty International will not be complying with the instruction from the SIPOC and will deploy every means at its disposal to challenge this unfair law,” Colm O’Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland said.

O’Gorman claimed on Twitter that Irish law was “being weaponized by those opposed to our work.”

Shocking, but true. @AmnestyIreland is facing possible criminal charges after anti-choice campaigners weaponised a deeply flawed law. We will not comply. #BraveIreland Stand with us #joinamnestyhttps://t.co/XkzWSiW52mhttps://t.co/ncfG9I5TnY — Colm O'Gorman (@Colmogorman) December 8, 2017

Pro-life campaigners have expressed outrage at Amnesty’s refusal to comply with the law.

Amnesty say they will break the law and take funds from George Soros to push abortion referendum. #CriminalAmnesty#ObeyTheLaw#DirtyMoney#savethe8thpic.twitter.com/SxBvHU16NV — Youth Defence (@YouthDefence) December 8, 2017

Amnesty is now saying it will break the law and take money from abroad, clearly to spend to push abortion/repeal the 8th. Obviously since they are not supported by Irish people they need George Soros' money. Their stance is unacceptable and illegal. #SaveThe8th — Life Institute (@lifeinstitute) December 8, 2017

Today marks the first time in the modern history of the state that a political campaign has openly declared its intention to break the law to win a vote. You'd think that might be an item worthy of discussion in a democracy. — John McGuirk (@john_mcguirk) December 8, 2017

Electoral Act 1997, as amended in 2001, forbids overseas donations of more than €100 to “third party” organizations for “political purposes.” Violation of this law can carry a penalty of up to three years imprisonment.

Earlier this year, it emerged that three organizations, including the Abortion Rights Campaign and Amnesty International had received funds from the OSF.

The Abortion Rights Campaign was ordered by SIPO to return the funds or face criminal investigation – an order they duly complied with. However, no such order was made against Amnesty International.

The organization said it was using the grant to carry out opinion polling and “research into models of abortion law reform that might bring Ireland into compliance with its international human rights obligations,” an explanation apparently accepted at the time, reported The Irish Times.

O’Gorman says it is unclear why SIPO reversed its decision, but noted that some groups and certain media outlets have been framing their campaign to reform Ireland’s abortion law as ‘controversial’ or ‘too political.’“They have also portrayed foreign funding as somehow sinister,” he said.

Amnesty International is now calling on the Irish government to urgently amend the Electoral Act so that civil society groups are not so “punitively” restricted in their access to funding.

Soros’ Open Society Foundation is the second largest charity in the US and said to be the most influential around the globe. It has been accused of undermining democracy in several countries – a charge denied by the NGO.

READ MORE: Tycoon George Soros transfers $18bn to his Open Society Foundations







