The mother of a 24-year-old Co Tyrone man has blamed the Provisional IRA for forcing him to walk through Coalisland with a placard branding him a rapist.
The woman, who has asked not to be named, said her son had been accused of raping a 17-year-old boy. She insisted he was innocent and demanded Sinn Féin clear his name.
Her son, a joiner and father-of-one, was forced to leave the North under threat of death. She said the teenager who allegedly had been raped, had not even made a complaint to the police and her son had been found "guilty by rumour".
Det Chief Supt Eddie Graham of the PSNI said "damage has been done to the people of Coalisland by unelected, unappointed bullies, masquerading as judge and jury," he said.
Local SDLP councillor, Mr Vincent Curie, said no-one had the right to "act as judge and jury". "Kangaroo courts are completely unacceptable," he added.
A Sinn Féin spokesman said his party had "nothing whatsoever" to do with the incident. The woman said that two-and-a-half weeks ago, the teenager arrived at the home of her son's girlfriend and said he had rowed with his family and been thrown out of the house. Her son and his girlfriend let him sleep on their sofa. The teenager left the house the next day on good terms with the couple. The woman said the rumours were started a few days later by the teenager's mother. When her son heard them, he went straight to the PSNI and offered to undergo DNA tests.
The police told him no complaint had been made so they could do nothing, she said. Ten days ago her son was abducted by several men. The ordered him to admit to the rape but he refused. He was then forced to write a placard with his name on it which said, "I am a rapist, please don't help me".