Bobby Sands mural

Robert Gerard Sands (Irish: Roibeard Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh), commonly known as Bobby Sands, (9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981), was an Irish Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer and member of the United Kingdom Parliament who died on hunger strike while in HM Prison Maze (also known as Long Kesh).

He was the leader of the 1981 hunger strike, in which Irish republican prisoners sought to regain Special Category Status. During his strike he was elected as a member of the United Kingdom Parliament as an Anti H-Block/Armagh Political Prisoner candidate. His death resulted in a new surge of IRA recruitment and activity. The international media coverage brought attention to the hunger strikers, and the Republican movement in general, attracting both praise and criticism.....