Hugh Feeney (born 1951) is a former

volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

in the

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...

(IRA) who, together with

Dolours Price Dolours Price (16 December 1950 – 23 January 2013) was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer. Early life Dolours and her sister, Marian, also an IRA member, were the daughters of Albert Price, a prominent Irish republican and ...

and

Marian Price Marian Price (born 1954), also known by her married name as Marian McGlinchey, is a former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer. Price was born into a strongly Republican family in Andersonstown, west Belfast. Both of her parents ...

, organised the car bombings of the Old Bailey and Scotland Yard on 8 March 1973. He and ten members of his 11-man

active service unit An active service unit (ASU; ) was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) cell of four to ten members, tasked with carrying out armed attacks. In 2002, the IRA had about 1,000 active members of which about 300 were in active service units. T ...

(ASU) were apprehended attempting to board a flight to Ireland shortly after the bombs were discovered.

Arrest, conviction, and imprisonment

Feeney was convicted on 14 November 1973 and sentenced to life imprisonment for each of the four bombing charges against him, which were to run concurrently. The other members of his group were sentenced to life imprisonment as well as an additional twenty years. Feeney and other members of the group were incarcerated in

Brixton Prison HM Prison Brixton is a local men's prison, located in Brixton area of the London Borough of Lambeth, in inner-South London. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. History The prison was originally built in 1820 and opened a ...

, and participated in a 205-day

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

with the goal of being transferred closer to their homes in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. Feeney and the other hunger strikers were force-fed by British authorities for 167 days of their strike. In May 1974, Feeney was one of a group of four prisoners whose transfer out of Brixton was demanded anonymously in exchange for the return of $19.2 million in stolen art. On 4 June 1974, the IRA kidnapped John Hely-Hutchinson, 7th Earl of Donoughmore and his wife in an unsuccessful attempt to exchange them for the release of Feeney, the Prices, and

Gerry Kelly Gerard Kelly (Irish: Gearard Ó Ceallaigh; born 5 April 1953) is an Irish republican politician and former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) member who played a leading role in the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement on 1 ...

. The prisoners ended their hunger strike on 7 June 1974. Feeney was transferred to

Long Kesh Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mens ...

prison soon after the hunger strike ended. During this period he and

Brendan Hughes Brendan Hughes (June 1948 – 16 February 2008), also known as "The Dark", and "Darkie" was a leading Irish republican and former Officer Commanding (OC) of the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). He was the leader ...

wrote IRA

communiqué A press release is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public release. Press releases are also considere ...

s and articles for ''

Republican News Republican News was a longstanding newspaper/magazine published by Sinn Féin. Following the split in physical force Irish republicanism in the late 1960s between the ''Officials'' (Official Sinn Féin — also known as Sinn Féin Gardiner ...

'' under the pen name "Brownie", although most material published under this pseudonym was written by

Gerry Adams Gerard Adams ( ga, Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948) is an Irish republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020. ...

. After Adams's release, Feeney began writing under the pseudonym "Salon".

Release and later deportation

Feeney was released from custody in 1986. On 20 May 1991, he was arrested in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

the next day for having illegally entered the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Feeney was arrested in the offices of ''The Irish People'', an Irish republican newspaper published by

Martin Galvin Martin J. Galvin (born January 8, 1950) is an Irish American lawyer, publisher and activist, and former director of NORAID. Background Galvin was born on January 8, 1950, the son of a fireman. He attended Catholic schools, Fordham University an ...

in New York City. The arrest was controversial because it involved a

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

(FBI) agent posing as a journalism student in order to gain access to the paper's editorial offices, which was a violation of FBI policy at the time.

Arrest, conviction, and imprisonment

Release and later deportation

References

Further reading