Gerry Adams to appeal prison escape attempts convictions
The Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has said he is taking legal action to try and overturn two historical convictions for trying to escape from the Maze prison.
Mr Adams was interned in the prison in the 1970s.
He was convicted of being part of a group that tried to get out of the prison in 1973 by cutting the wire perimeter fence.
According to government files, he was also convicted of trying to switch with a visitor to the prison in 1974.
For those two attempts, he was given an 18 month sentence after being tried by two separate Diplock Courts for each attempt.
"Following the recovery of a document by the Pat Finucane Centre in October 2009 from the British National Archives in London, I instructed my solicitor to begin proceedings to seek leave to appeal the 1975 convictions,'' he said.
Mr Adams, who represents Louth in the Irish Parliament, was among hundreds of republicans held without trial during the height of the Troubles.