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The highest court in the United Kingdom has said that Gerry Adams was illegally imprisoned by the British government when he was interned without trial in the early 1970s.
The Supreme Court overturned his two convictions for trying to escape from the Labyrinth Prison.
Lawyers for the former president of Sinn Féin had argued that those convictions were illegal since his detention was illegal.
They said that his arrest warrant was defective because it had not been “personally considered” by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in accordance with the regulations in force at the time.
At a trial this morning, five judges, led by former Northern Ireland Chief Justice Brian Kerr, agreed.
In their ruling, they said that the arrest of Mr. Adams should have been personally authorized by the Secretary of State and that the order to arrest him was not valid.
They said that his arrest was illegal and, as a result, his imprisonment for trying to escape was also illegal.
In pronouncing the ruling this morning, Lord Kerr said that the five Supreme Court justices unanimously allowed Mr. Adams’ appeal against his convictions.
“The arrest of Mr. Adams had not been legally authorized,” he said.
“Therefore, his arrest was invalid and it follows that he should not have been convicted of trying to escape legal custody.”
Adams has welcomed the ruling and has asked the British government to identify and report others whose detention may also have been illegal.
In a statement, he thanked his legal team and the Pat Finucane Center that, he said, in 2009 discovered communications since July 1974.
“Of course, the internment, later described as detention by the British, was never legal. In fact, it set aside the normal principles of law and relied on a forceful and brutal piece of coercive legislation
“I do not regret my imprisonment, except for the time I was separated from my family.
“However, we were not alone. It is believed that around 2,000 men and women were interned during their four and a half years of operation.”
“I consider my time at Prison Ship Maidstone, Belfast Prison and Long Kesh to be in the company of many remarkable, resilient and inspiring people.
“Internment, like all coercive measures, failed.
“The British government has a responsibility to identify and inform other inmates whose detention may also have been illegal,” he said.
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