| Author/Contributor(s): | Adams, Gerry; O'Grady, Timothy |
| Publisher: | Pluto Press |
| Date: | 2/20/2027 |
| Binding: | Paperback |
| Condition: | NEW |
In 2020, the UK Supreme Court quashed Gerry Adams’ 1975 convictions for attempting to break out of Long Kesh prison, ruling that his internment without trial had been illegal all along. This landmark victory exposes a chilling reality: top British officials knew that hundreds of citizens were held unlawfully, yet proceeded with prosecutions anyway.
In Unlawfully Detained, Adams connects his personal court battles to nearly nine centuries of foreign rule in Ireland. Tracing a path from ancient Brehon Laws to the Special Powers Act, he demonstrates how ‘the law’ was repeatedly weaponised as an instrument of colonial control and counter-insurgency rather than justice.
Drawing on his time aboard the prison ship HMS Maidstone, the Cages of Long Kesh, and recent courtroom trials, Adams delivers a blistering, witty, and deeply human account of state repression and unyielding resistance. It is both an urgent historical memoir and a call for Irish unity.