FORMER Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has said that he is not surprised that the British government is set to bring in new legislation that would block him and other internees from receiving compensation for their wrongful imprisonment in the 1970s.
The British government has confirmed that although they are in the process of repealing the former Conservative government’s Legacy Act – which blocked internees from claiming compensation for unlawful detention – a legal change will reinstate the block which could affect up to 400 former internees.
“I am not surprised by the British government’s decision to retrospectively make lawful actions it took 50 years ago that were illegal and unlawful at that time,” said Mr Adams.
"A British Supreme Court judgement in 2020 ruled that almost 400 internees were unlawfully detained under British law in the 1970s. These internees are now elderly and some are quite poorly. They were victims of appalling treatment at the hands of the British state forces and were held in shameful conditions.
"British Prime Minister Keir Starmer made his views clear earlier this year when he told the British Parliament that he would block compensation.
"Internment was an abuse of power and a denial of human rights by the British state. This was compounded for these 400 because the British government breached even its own law. The original injustice endured by the internees will be deepened by the stupidity of a vindictive British government which doesn’t accept its own law. Another example of the British waiving the rules when it suits their political agenda."
