History will be made this weekend when surviving ‘Hooded Men’ gather in Co Armagh to remember former member Gerry McKerr who died earlier this year.
The 71-year-old from Lurgan in Co Armagh passed away in March after suffering a bout of ill health.
Now the remaining members of the group will come together to talk for the first time to a public audience about their experiences almost 45 years ago.
Thet were among a group of 14 Catholic men who said they were tortured during interrogations by RUC Special Branch at a British army base in Ballykelly, Co Derry, in August 1971.
The men say they were forced to wear hoods, deprived of sleep, food and water, forced to listen to loud static noise and made to stand in a stress position and beaten if they fell.
The men, who were all interned without trial, have never given up on their campaign for justice.
Last year their case was referred back to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) with the support of the Irish government.
International human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, whose husband is Hollywood actor George Clooney, will represent them when they take their case to the ECHR.
A former chairman of the Clan na Gael GAA club in Lurgan, the club will host Friday’s event. Mr McKerr was well known in the Shankill area of Lurgan and the event is being organised with the support of the local community group.
Jim McIlmurray, a lifelong friend of Mr McKerr and Hooded Men Case Co-ordinator, said new evidence has emerged proving the British government was aware of what happened to the men.
"What was not made public by the British government at the time was that 14 of those detained had been secretly selected to undergo deep sensory deprivation interrogation techniques," he said.
"It is now known that preparations for the use of deep interrogation began six months before interment, when in April 1971, the MoD’s Joint Services Interrogation Wing (JSIW) began training RUC Special Branch officers in Belfast."
Mr McIlmurray said the death of Mr McKerr was a shock to all who knew him.
"I wanted to do something to honour Gerry," he said. "There is now a gaping hole in the lives of myself and the men, I can’t imagine what it must be like for his family."
Before his death Mr McKerr had been planning to raise funds for the erection of a memorial stone in the Dougher Cemetery in Lurgan to remember Shankill residents buried in unmarked graves.
A raffle will be held on the night for items related to the ‘Hooded Men’ to help the fundraising.
ENDS
