THE BBC has accepted it incorrectly referred to the former Long Kesh internment camp as 'the Maze' in its reporting of the Gerry Adams story on his attempt to overturn his criminal convictions.
A spokeswoman for the broadcaster confirmed that the BBC News NI website "had been updated to clarify the matter" after being contacted by The Irish News over the inaccuracy.
The original online edition on Tuesday referred to Mr Adams (68) being interned without trial in "the Maze Prison" during the early 1970s.
At the time of the Sinn Féin president's detainment, the former Second World War airfield facility outside Lisburn was known as Long Kesh detention centre following the introduction of internment on August 9, 1971. The name remained until the British government policy ended in December, 1975, when it became Her Majesty's prison Maze.
Political historian Dr Éamon Phoenix said that most nationalists continue to refer to the prison as 'Long Kesh' to this day.
Dr Phoenix described the camp as a "propaganda godsend" for the Provisional IRA during the controversial period of internment, when 1,874 Catholics or those from a republican/nationalist background were detained compared with 107 protestants.
"The British government had created an authentic PoW camp for republicans with watchtowers, military guard, compounds and cages," he said.
Mr Adams is currently challenging two convictions relating to two attempted escapes from Long Kesh in 1973 and 1974. He was subsequently jailed for 18 months for the offences.
His legal appeal is being mounted following the recovery of a document by the Pat Finucane centre in 2009 from the British National Archives in London.
