How many days did Bobby Sands go without food?

Sands died on 5 May 1981 in the Maze’s prison hospital after 66 days on hunger strike, aged 27. The original pathologist’s report recorded the hunger strikers’ causes of death as “self-imposed starvation”, amended to simply “starvation” following protests by the dead strikers’ families.

What caused the 1981 hunger strike?

The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special Category Status (prisoner of war rather than criminal status) for convicted paramilitary prisoners.

What was the longest hunger strike?

India’s Mahatma Gandhi staged several hunger strikes to protest British rule, the longest said to have been 21 days. Bobby Sands, a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), starved himself to death in 1981 after 66 days on hunger strike while demanding to be treated as a political prisoner, not as a criminal.

Has anyone ever died from a hunger strike?

How much weight can you lose on a hunger strike?

Normally someone on a hunger strike would lose between 4-6 pounds per week (or more), which is much higher than the recommended rate of weight loss which is 1-2 pounds per week maximum. The body is not only losing fat, but also lean body tissue and muscle.

How long can you survive on hunger strike?

An article in Archiv Fur Kriminologie states the body can survive for 8 to 21 days without food and water and up to two months if there’s access to an adequate water intake. Modern-day hunger strikes have provided insight into starvation.

Who shot first on Bloody Sunday?

Sign up to our free breaking news emails. The Bloody Sunday inquiry was at the centre of major political controversy yesterday after claims were made that Martin McGuinness fired a shot which triggered the violence leading to the deaths of 14 civil rights protesters.

How did the prisoners get out of the maze?

The prisoners took prison officers hostage using three handguns that had been smuggled into the prison, took their uniforms and shot their way out of the prison. 1983 escape HM Prison Maze was considered one of the most escape-proof prisons in Europe.

What happened at the maze in Belfast?

The controversial deal saw the release of 80 of Ulster’s most notorious terrorists were and signalled the closure of the Maze. The massive jail, beside the M1 out of Belfast, has housed thousands of Republican and Loyalist terrorists since it was built on an old airfield in the early Seventies.

How long is the tunnel in the maze maze?

In March 1997 a 40-foot (12 m) tunnel was discovered in H7 at the Maze Prison. The tunnel was fitted with electric lights, and was 80 feet (24 m) from the outside wall, having already breached the block’s perimeter wall.