NI: Human rights campaigner Denis Faul dies
21/06/2006 - 17:03:03Renowned Northern Ireland human rights campaigner Monsignor Denis Faul died today after a long battle with cancer.
The Catholic priest, who was a leading light in attempts to end the Troubles throughout the 35 years of bloodshed, died at a Dublin hospital at the age of 74.
Mgr Faul first rose to prominence when he marched with the Civil Rights movement in 1968, which was demanding equality for Catholics in Northern Ireland.
He protested against human rights abuses by the British army and Royal Ulster Constabulary in the 1970s but also spoke out strongly against republican and loyalist paramilitary violence.
Mgr Denis Faul intervened in the republican H-Block hunger strikes 25 years ago in a bid to save the lives of some of the 10 men who died in the Maze Prison.
He also campaigned tirelessly for the release of the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four who had been wrongly imprisoned in Britain for the bomb attacks before their cases became high-profile.
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