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:''For the former US politician and member of the House Of Representatives, see Marty Meehan.'' }} Martin Meehan (1945 – 3 November 2007) was a Sinn Féin politician and former volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). Meehan was the first person to be convicted of membership of the Provisional IRA, and he spent eighteen years in prison during the Troubles. ==Background and early IRA activity== Meehan was born in 1945 in the Ardoyne area of Belfast in Northern Ireland.〔 〕 His father had been imprisoned for republican activities in the 1940s, and his grandfather was killed fighting for the British Army in the Battle of the Somme.〔 Meehan left school aged 15 and began working at Belfast's docks, and in 1966 he became a member of the Irish Republican Army.〔 He was sworn in by Billy McMillen, and described joining as "a big occasion, like joining the priesthood".〔〔 In 1968 he was arrested for the first time, after he assaulted a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) during a civil rights march in Derry. During the August 1969 riots in Belfast he was one of a handful of IRA members who tried to defend Catholic areas from attacks by Ulster loyalists,〔''Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin'', p. 55.〕 and resigned as a result of the organisation's failure to adequately protect Catholic areas.〔''Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin'', p. 62.〕 Meehan was arrested on 22 August 1969 for riotous behaviour, and was badly beaten before being imprisoned.〔〔 The beating was so severe Meehan was given the last rites, the first of four occasions he received them.〔 He was released after spending two months in prison.〔 After his release Billy McKee convinced Meehan to rejoin the IRA.〔''Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin'', p. 63.〕 Meehan sided with the Provisional IRA following its split with the Official IRA in January 1970, and by mid-1970 was a senior IRA leader in the Ardoyne area.〔''Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin'', pp. 74–75.〕 On 27 June 1970 rioting broke out across Belfast following a parade by the Orange Order, and a gun battle started in the Ardoyne area.〔 Meehan stated: In 2007, the Daily Mail reported that Meehan had been one of three PIRA volunteers who had taken part in the March 1971 murder of three off duty, unarmed, helpless and intoxicated Scottish soldiers. One of the soldiers, John McCaig, was a teenager, aged only 17. Meehan was questioned but never charged. In the six weeks following the beginning of Operation Demetrius in August 1971, six soldiers from the Green Howards regiment were killed by the IRA in north Belfast.〔 Meehan became one of the most wanted IRA members in the area, and when arrested he was badly beaten by soldiers and needed 47 stitches to the back of his head.〔 Meehan was imprisoned without charge under the Special Powers Act in Crumlin Road Jail.〔 Meehan and two other IRA members including Joe B. O'Hagan escaped from prison on 2 December 1971. The men covered themselves in butter in order to keep warm, then hid inside a manhole for six-and-a-half hours before scaling the prison walls using ropes made from knotted blankets and sheets.〔 Meehan escaped across the border to Dundalk in the Republic of Ireland, and on 27 January 1972 he was arrested by the Garda along with seven other IRA members following a four-hour cross-border gun battle between the IRA and soldiers from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. Meehan told reporters "We pasted them. You could have heard them squealing for miles",〔 Despite over 4,500 rounds of ammunition being fired the only casualty was a farmer's prize-winning pig.〔 The IRA members were arrested in possession of an anti-tank gun, a carbine and seven rifles, but were acquitted at their trial the following month due to lack of evidence.〔 Meehan returned to Northern Ireland, where he was arrested on 9 August 1972. He was charged with escaping from lawful custody, and at his trial successfully argued that under the Special Powers Act a British soldier had no power of arrest and as such he had the legal right to escape. He was awarded £800 in compensation for being illegally detained for twenty-three days, and the government were forced to amend the Special Powers Act to legalise the detention of others held under the Act. He was also charged with membership of the Provisional IRA, and received a three-year sentence when he became the first person to be convicted of the offence.〔 He was imprisoned in Long Kesh, and was released on 4 October 1974.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Martin Meehan (Irish republican)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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