THE Bobby Sands Trust has rejected calls from the family of the former hunger striker to disband amid anger at its participation in a controversial new graphic novel about his life.
The Sands family claimed the author of the book, Gerard Hunt had been "misled by those who profess to be authorities on Bobby's life story" and went on to stress that "the Bobby Sands Trust does not act on behalf of Bobby, nor does it represent our family, in any shape or form".
In a statement that called on it to "disband and desist from using Bobby’s memory as a commercial enterprise".
Danny Morrison, former Sinn Féin director of publicity and secretary of the Trust, insisted "we are not responsible for this graphic novel".
"We have no commercial interest in this book whatsoever," he said.
"We were asked to check spellings and factual errors and discovered several.
"We also suggested various changes, including that it shouldn't begin in 1921 on the formation of Northern Ireland, but back to the plantation and include republican history."
Mr Morrison insisted the Trust is merely fulfilling Sands's wishes, following his decision to "bequeath all his his writing to the Republican movement in 1981".
He said a document reflecting his wishes had been formally recorded by Pat Finucane and is now lodged with the Trust's solicitor Peter Madden.
"We do not hold any personal letters that Bobby sent out to his family," he said.
"All those were sent out to the family. All we held were the writings he sent us and they have been lodged in the National Library.
"Everybody that works for the Trust are volunteers. We meet every few years and we do not make any money. If we authorise use of his writings it is to fund postcards we produce with Bobby's picture on one side and a description of his life."
