I had deepest respect for brave hunger strikers: MP
But their cause was not worth the sacrifice, says former Army officer
A former Army officer who is now a Conservative MP has said he regards the hunger strikers as “incredibly brave, incredibly courageous”.
Colonel Bob Stewart, who is an MP for Beckham, is a former Army officer who was United Nations commander of British forces in Bosnia. In 1981 he was stationed in Londonderry as a captain in the Cheshire Regiment and completed seven operational tours of Northern Ire
land in total during the Troubles.
Speaking to the Irish Times ahead of the 40th anniversary of Bobby Sands’ election as the MP for Fermanagh-south Tyrone, he said Sands, along with other hunger strikers who died at the time, gave their lives in belief of their cause.
“They actually gave their lives, literally, for their cause. Because it is incredibly difficult to starve yourself to death, it is just awful,” hesaid.
“So I have deep respect for them. I don’t agree with their cause, I don’t think the cause was worth their lives, but that doesn’t stop me having respect for the way they acted,” he added.
When he was elected in 1981 on April 9 after receiving 30,493 votes, Sands had been refusing food at the Maze prison since the start of March along with 23 other men.
He would spend 66 days on hunger strike before dying on May 5 and becoming the first of ten prisoners to die in protest as part of a long-running campaign against the withdrawal of special category status for political prisoners.
Mr Stewart said he had respect for hunger strikers despite the knowledge they posed a threat to his soldiers stationed in Northern Ireland.
“At the time I remember thinking, mindful of the fact that these were the people who were trying to kill my men, I remember thinking they were nuts, and it was really sad that they were so nuts, but even then I had respect forthem,”hesaid.
But their cause was not worth the sacrifice, he added. “I didn’t think that taking life, even if it’s self-inflicted, was worth it.
“But they had more, dare I say, they had more courage than me. I wouldn’t have been able to do that. I don’t think I would have hadthebottletodothat,”hesaid.