Origin

Adnan son of Add son of Send son of Napyot son of Ismael.

Descent from Adnan to Muhammad

See also

References

Category:Semitic peoples Category:Descendants of Eber Category:Adnanites Category:Arab people

Robert Gerard "Bobby" Sands (; 9 March 1954 5 May 1981) was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and member of the United Kingdom Parliament who died on hunger strike while imprisoned in HM Prison Maze.

He was the leader of the 1981 hunger strike in which Irish republican prisoners protested against the removal of 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. International media coverage brought attention to the hunger strikers, and the republican movement in general, attracting both praise and criticism.

Life

Early years and family

In June 1972, at the age of 18, Bobby moved with his family to the Twinbrook housing estate in west Belfast, being obliged to leave Rathcoole due to loyalist intimidation.

He married Geraldine Noade. His son, Gerard, was born 8 May 1973. She soon left to live in England with their son.

Sands' sister Bernadette Sands McKevitt is also a prominent Irish Republican. Along with her husband Michael McKevitt she helped to form the 32 County Sovereignty Movement and is accused of involvement with the Real Irish Republican Army. Sands McKevitt is opposed to the Belfast Agreement, stating that "Bobby did not die for cross-border bodies with executive powers. He did not die for nationalists to be equal British citizens within the Northern Ireland state."

Provisional IRA activity

On his release from prison in 1976, he returned to his family home in West Belfast, and resumed his active role in the Provisional IRA's campaign. He was charged with involvement in the October 1976 bombing of the Balmoral Furniture Company in Dunmurry, although he was never convicted of this charge with the presiding judge stating that there was no evidence to support the assertion that he had taken part. After the bombing, Sands and at least five others were alleged to have been involved in a gun battle with the Royal Ulster Constabulary, although he was not convicted due to lack of evidence. Leaving behind two of their wounded friends, Seamus Martin and Gabriel Corbett, Sands, Joe McDonnell, Seamus Finucane and Sean Lavery tried to make their escape in a car, but were apprehended. Later, one of the revolvers used in the attack was found in the car in which Sands had been travelling. His trial in September 1977 saw him being convicted of possession of firearms (the revolver from which the prosecution alleged bullets had been fired at the RUC after the bombing) and Sands was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment within HM Prison Maze, also known as Long Kesh.

Immediately after his sentence he was implicated in a ruckus and spent the first 22 days on boards in Crumlin Road Prison, 15 days naked, and a No. 1 starvation diet every 3 days.

Long Kesh

Republican prisoners had organised a series of protests seeking to regain their previous Special Category Status and not be subject to ordinary prison regulations. This began with the "blanket protest" in 1976, in which the prisoners refused to wear prison uniform and wore blankets instead. In 1978, after a number of attacks on prisoners leaving their cells to "slop out" (i.e. empty their chamber pots), this escalated into the "dirty protest", wherein prisoners refused to wash and smeared the walls of their cells with excrement.

Published works

Election

The sudden vacancy in a seat with a nationalist majority of about five thousand was a valuable opportunity for Sands' supporters to unite the nationalist community behind their campaign.

Following Sands' success, the British Government introduced the Representation of the People Act 1981 which prevents prisoners serving jail terms of more than one year in either the UK or the Republic of Ireland from being nominated as candidates in UK elections. This law was introduced so as to prevent the other hunger strikers from being elected to the British parliament.

Hunger strike

The hunger strike centred around five demands: # the right not to wear a prison uniform; # the right not to do prison work; # the right of free association with other prisoners, and to organise educational and recreational pursuits; # the right to one visit, one letter and one parcel per week; # full restoration of remission lost through the protest.

The significance of the hunger strike was the prisoners' aim of being declared as political prisoners (or prisoners of war) and not to be classed as criminals. The ''Washington Post'', however, reported that the primary aim of the hunger strike was to generate international publicity.

Death

The announcement of his death prompted several days of riots in nationalist areas of Northern Ireland. A milkman and his son, Eric and Desmond Guiney, died as a result of injuries sustained when their milk float crashed after being stoned by rioters in a predominantly nationalist area of north Belfast. Over 100,000 people lined the route of Sands' funeral and he was buried in the 'New Republican Plot' alongside 76 others. Their grave is maintained and cared for by the National Graves Association, Belfast. Sands was a Member of the Westminster Parliament for 25 days, though he never took his seat or the oath.

In response to a question in the House of Commons on 5 May 1981, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, "Mr. Sands was a convicted criminal. He chose to take his own life. It was a choice that his organisation did not allow to many of its victims". The official announcement of Sands' death in the House of Commons omitted the customary expression of sense of loss and sympathy with the family of the member.

He was survived by his parents, siblings, and a young son (Gerard) from his marriage to Geraldine Noade.

Reaction to death

Europe

In Europe, there were widespread protests after Sands' death. Five thousand Milanese students burned the Union Flag and shouted 'freedom for Ulster' during a march. The British Consulate at Ghent was raided. Thousands marched in Paris behind huge portraits of Sands, to chants of 'the IRA will conquer'. In Oslo, demonstrators threw a balloon filled with tomato sauce at Elizabeth II, the Queen of the United Kingdom. In the Soviet Union, ''Pravda'' described it as 'another tragic page in the grim chronicle of oppression, discrimination, terror and violence' in Ireland. Russian fans of Bobby Sands published a translation of the "Back Home In Derry" song ("На Родину в Дерри" in Russian). Many French towns and cities have streets named after Sands, including in Nantes, Saint-Étienne, Le Mans, Vierzon, and Saint-Denis. In the Republic of Ireland, his death led to riots and bus burning. IRA members allegedly unsuccessfully attempted to coerce proprietors of shops and other businesses into closing for a national day of mourning. The West German newspaper ''Die Welt'' took a negative view of Sands.

The Americas

The ''New York Times'' wrote that "Britain's prime minister Thatcher is right in refusing to yield political status to Bobby Sands, the Irish Republican Army hunger striker," but that by appearing "unfeeling and unresponsive" the British Government was giving Sands "the crown of martyrdom." The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' argued that political belief should not exempt activists from criminal law: "Terrorism goes far beyond the expression of political belief. And dealing with it does not allow for compromise as many countries of Western Europe and United States have learned. The bombing of bars, hotels, restaurants, robbing of banks, abductions and killings of prominent figures are all criminal acts and must be dealt with by criminal law."

Some American critics and journalists suggested that American press coverage was a "melodrama". One journalist in particular criticised the large pro-IRA Irish-American contingent which "swallow IRA propaganda as if it were taffy," and concluded that IRA "terrorist propaganda triumphs."

Archbishop John R. Roach, president of the US Catholic bishops, called Sands' death "a useless sacrifice". ''The Ledger'' of May 5, 1981 under the headline “''To some he was a hero, to others a terrorist''” claims that the hunger strike made Sands "a hero among Irish Republicans or Nationalists seeking the reunion of Protestant-dominated and British-ruled Northern Ireland with the predominantly Catholic Irish Republic to the south."

''The Ledger'' cited Sands as telling his friends: “''If I die, God will understand''," and one of his last messages to them being, “''Tell everyone I’ll see them somewhere, sometime''.”

Some political, religious, union and fund-raising institutions chose to honour Sands. The International Longshoremen's Association in New York announced a 24-hour boycott of British ships. Over 1,000 people gathered in New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral to hear Cardinal Terence Cooke offer a Mass of reconciliation for Ireland. Irish bars in the city were closed for two hours in mourning. In Hartford, Connecticut a memorial was dedicated to Bobby Sands and the other hunger strikers in 1997, the only one of its kind in the United States. Set up by the Irish Northern Aid Committee and local Irish-Americans, it stands in a traffic circle known as "Bobby Sands Circle," at the bottom of Maple Avenue near Goodwin Park.

The New Jersey General Assembly, the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature, voted 34-29 for a resolution honouring his "courage and commitment."

In 2001, a memorial to Sands and the other hunger strikers was unveiled in Havana, Cuba.

Asia

United Kingdom

Cardinal Basil Hume, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, condemned Sands, describing the hunger strike as a form of violence. However he noted that this was his personal view. The Roman Catholic Church's official stance was that ministrations should be provided to the hunger strikers who, believing that their sacrifice to be for a higher good, were acting in good conscience.

Political impact

The media coverage that surrounded the death of Sands resulted in a new surge of IRA activity and an immediate escalation in the Troubles, with the group obtaining many more members and increasing its fund-raising capability. Both nationalists and unionists began to harden their attitudes and move towards political extremes. Sands' Westminster seat was taken by his election agent, Owen Carron standing as 'Anti H-Block Proxy Political Prisoner' with an increased majority.

Music and film

The music video for the The Cranberries song ''Zombie'' shows a clip of a mural commemorating Sands.

Songs written in response to the hunger strikes and Sands' death include songs by Black 47, Nicky Wire, The Undertones, Bik McFarlane and Eric Bogle. Christy Moore's song, "The People's Own MP", has been described as an example of a rebel song of the "hero-martyr" genre in which Sands' "intellectual, artistic and moral qualities" are eulogised. American rock band Rage Against the Machine have listed Sands as an inspiration in the sleeve notes of their self titled debut album. and as a "political hero" in media interviews

Bobby Sands has also been portrayed in the following films:

Bobby Sands was played by John Lynch in the 1996 film ''Some Mother's Son''. It was directed by Terry George and written by George and Jim Sheridan. Bobby Sands was played by Mark O'Halloran in the 2001 film ''H3''. ''Il Silenzio dell'Allodola'' (2005, aka ''The Silence of the Skylark'') by Italian film director and scriptwriter David Ballerini features Ivan Franek as Bobby Sands. It won awards and was premiered in Ireland at the Cork Film Festival, screened at Rotterdam Int. Film Festival and several other festivals. Michael Fassbender played Bobby Sands in ''Hunger'', a 2008 film by artist Steve McQueen about the last six weeks of Bobby Sands' life in the context of the 1981 Irish hunger strike. It premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival and won McQueen the prestigious Caméra d'Or award for first-time filmmakers. It was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK for the first time on 15 December 2009.

See also

References

External links

Category:1954 births Category:1981 deaths Category:People from Newtownabbey Category:Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for Northern Irish constituencies Category:People who died on the 1981 Irish hunger strike Category:Prisoners accorded Special Category Status Category:Provisional Irish Republican Army members Category:UK MPs 1979–1983

Samiullah Khan Niazi (Urdu: سمیع اللہ خان نیازی) (born September 6, 1951, Bahawalpur, Pakistan) is a former field hockey player from Pakistan, who was nicknamed ''The Flying Horse'' because of his great speed. He played as a left winger for his native country in 1970s and 1980s.

He was instrumental in Pakistan's bronze medal in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, and winning gold in Asian Games in Bangkok in 1978. Khan retired from international hockey in 1982 while he was a captain of Pakistan. His brother Kaleemullah Khan also played for the national field hockey team of Pakistan. He later managed the Pakistani team, quitting in 2005.

Samiullah is also nephew of Haji Matiullah Khan, who was member of the 1960 Rome Olympics gold-winning Pakistan hockey side.

External links

Category:1951 births Category:Field hockey players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Category:Living people Category:Olympic field hockey players of Pakistan Category:Pakistani field hockey players Category:Olympic bronze medalists for Pakistan