IRA victims campaigner Willie Frazer has received abusive phone calls from republicans while being treated in hospital for bowel cancer. Frazer, who has undergone surgery since being diagnosed with cancer a fortnight ago, said he was telephoned as he lay in his hospital bed.

"Once republicans heard I was ill, they were on the phone," he said. "One caller said he and his mates were buying a new set of spades so they could dig me up from the grave when I was buried.

"One man said he hoped that I would burn in hell. Another said it was a pity that I'd die from cancer before the IRA got the chance to shoot me." Frazer said a fourth caller started singing a derogatory song about him rotting in his grave.

Frazer said he was unperturbed by the phone calls: "There are good and bad people on both sides of the political divide so I expect it. I just laugh it off. I'm sorry to disappoint those who hate me but I've no intention of dying just yet. They're not getting rid of Willie Frazer that easily."

Frazer said doctors had told him that the grade of his cancer was one of the least aggressive and malignant and that he would most likely not need chemotherapy.

Earlier this month, Frazer's group Fair (Families Acting for Innocent Relatives) had £800,000 in EU grants revoked following an investigation into its tendering process. Frazer said: "There is no money missing. Every penny we get goes to victims. There were paperwork errors, nothing more than that."

Frazer left hospital last Wednesday to deal with the funding issue, but will return to hospital tomorrow for more surgery.

He was the organiser of the infamous Love Ulster rally in Dublin in February 2006 which was attacked by protesters.

Busloads of marchers from Northern Ireland had to be escorted out of the capital by gardaí after hundreds of thugs began causing trouble on and around O'Connell Street.

Several cars were set alight and there were dozens of arrests.

Frazer considered staging a second rally, but later abandoned his plans.