THE Irish government is to seek the revision of a 1978 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in the so-called 'hooded men' case.
Lawyers for the government told the High Court in Dublin yesterday that it would proceed with an application to have the original case reviewed by the courts in Strasbourg.
Speaking from the High Court, west Belfast man Liam Shannon said he and the other former internees were "absolutely delighted" with the news.
Fourteen men were arrested by the British security forces in Northern Ireland in 1971 and taken to a secret location where they were subjected to what was described as "deep interrogation".
During their detention at the Shackleton army base in Ballykelly, Co Derry, the men were hooded and thrown from helicopters while mistakenly believing they were hundreds of feet in the air.
Security forces used 'five techniques' to interrogate the men, including bombarding them with white noise, depriving them of both food and sleep, as well as forcing them to stand in stress positions with arms raised for prolonged periods.
However, the ECHR found in 1978 that, while they had been subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment, the men had not been tortured.
A High Court case seeking action on the part of the government in Dublin was brought by Francis McGuigan, Jim Auld, Patrick McNally, Gerard McKerr, Liam Shannon, Kevin Hannaway, Michael Donnell, Brian Turley, Joe Clarke, Paddy Joe McClean as well as by Tony Shivers on behalf of the late Patrick Shivers, who died in 1985 from cancer, and Deirdre Montgomery for the late Michael Montgomery, who suffered a fatal heart attack in 1984.
In a statement yesterday, the Republic's foreign affairs minister Charlie Flanagan said the government was aware of the suffering of the men and their families.
He said that material revealed in an RTE documentary in June called The Torture Files had been taken very seriously. The programme claimed that the British had withheld key evidence from the European court about the effects of the interrogation methods on the men.
"On the basis of the new material uncovered, it will be contended that the ill-treatment suffered by the Hooded Men should be recognised as torture," the minister said.
The men's legal representatives KRW Law last night described the government's decision as "historic". Darragh Mackin said they were "pleased" with the decision and said in their view the interrogation methods "clearly amounted to torture not merely inhumane and degrading treatment".