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Irish WWI soldiers to be granted pardons
By admin | August 17, 2006
The British government’s announcement yesterday that it would seek pardons for the 306 soldiers who were shot at dawn for cowardice or desertion during World War I has been welcomed by Irish campaigners and Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern.. There were 26 Irish killed for such offences; Irish men were four times more likely to be executed as a result of court martial than British, Canadian, or New Zealand troops. The offences for which they were killed were repealed by British authorities in 1930; many of the offences were apparently related to post-traumatic stress disorder. In 2006, Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern called for pardons for the Irish-born soldiers shot by the British army; his department had produced a report, presented to the British government, that outlined the flawed justice the men had been subjected to.
http://foreignaffairs.gov.ie/Press_Releases/20060328/2010.htm
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