Former IRA prisoners to seek compensation

HUNDREDS of former IRA prisoners are to attempt to have their convictions overturned and claim compensation.

About 300 republican inmates are to allege that confessions were extracted from them under duress amid mistreatment in security force holding centres in the north. Many ex-prisoners cannot find jobs, insurance or loans because of their convictions. They are barred from entry to countries like the US.

Sinn Féin assembly member Caral Ní Chuilín said: “A lot of men in Long Kesh [prison] were only there because they signed a confession extracted from them under extreme circumstances in places like Castlereagh and Gough [police detention centres].