#bobby sands
23-year-old Bobby Sands was convicted of illegal gun possession and sent to prison in 1977. He had been a member of the Provisional IRA (Irish Republican Army) since he was 18 and had already served 3 years in prison (also for the possession of illegal guns).
Sands and other IRA prisoners demanded that they be treated as political prisoners and not as criminals. They issued a number of demands (including the right not to wear a prison uniform, right not to do prison work, the right to associate with other prisoners, and the right to receive one visitor a week) and in March 1981 began a hunger strike. Sands was the first to go on strike, with 22 others joining at planned intervals (which they thought would maximize the publicity and protect each striker from ending his strike to save the life of another).
In April, Sands was elected to Parliament (the youngest ever). The British government quickly passed a law banning prisoners from being candidates.
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher refused to negotiate with the hunger strikers, and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland stated, “If Mr. Sands persisted in his wish to commit suicide, that was his choice.”
After 66 days without food, Bobby Sands died on 5 May 1981. Rioting broke out in Northern Ireland. More than 100,000 people attended Sands’ funeral. Thatcher responded by saying, “Mr. Sands was a convicted criminal. He chose to take his own life.“
By the time the hunger strikes ended on 3 October, 9 people had died. All but one of the prisoners’ demands (the right not to do prison work) had been granted.
The 7 months of the hunger strike was one of the deadliest in Northern Ireland, and Sands’ death increased recruitment in the Provisional IRA.
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