Operation Demetrius

1971 mass arrest and internment by the British Army in Northern Ireland

Operation Demetrius was a British Army operation in Northern Ireland on 9–10 August 1971, during the Troubles. It involved the mass arrest and internment (imprisonment without trial) of people suspected of being involved with the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which was waging an armed campaign for a united Ireland against the British state. It was proposed by the Unionist government of Northern Ireland and approved by the British Government. Armed soldiers launched dawn raids throughout Northern Ireland and arrested 342 in the initial sweep, sparking four days of violence in which 20 civilians, two IRA members and two British soldiers were killed. All of those arrested were Irish republicans and nationalists, the vast majority of them Catholics. Due to faulty and out of date intelligence, many were no longer involved in republican militancy or never had links with the IRA. Ulster loyalist paramilitaries were also carrying out acts of violence, which were mainly directed against Catholics and Irish nationalists, but no loyalists were included in the sweep. 1,874 were nationalist, while 107 were loyalist. The first loyalist internees were detained in February 1973. It was later revealed that the British government had withheld information from the ECHR and that the policy had been authorized by British government ministers. In light of the new evidence, in 2014 the Irish government asked the ECHR to revise its judgement, but the ECHR eventually declined the request. In 2021, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom found that the use of the five techniques amounts to torture.

Internment had been used several times in Ireland during the 20th century, but had not previously been used during the Troubles, which began in the late 1960s. Ulster loyalist paramilitaries, such as the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), had been engaged in a low level violent campaign since 1966. After the August 1969 riots, the British Army was deployed on the streets to bolster the police, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). Up until this point, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) had been largely inactive. However, as the violence worsened, the IRA was divided over how to deal with it. It split into two factions, the Provisional IRA and Official IRA. In 1970–71, the Provisionals began a guerrilla campaign against the British Army and the RUC. The Officials' policy was more defensive. During 1970–71, there were numerous clashes between state forces and the two wings of the IRA, and between the IRAs and loyalists. Most loyalist attacks were directed against Catholic civilians, but they also clashed with state forces and the IRA on a number of occasions. The British cabinet recommended "balancing action", such as the arrest of loyalist militants, the calling in of weapons held by (generally unionist) rifle clubs in Northern Ireland, and an indefinite ban on parades (most of which were held by unionist/loyalist groups such as the Orange Order). However, Faulkner argued that a ban on parades was unworkable, that the rifle clubs posed no security risk, and that there was no evidence of loyalist terrorism. It was eventually agreed that there would be a six month ban on parades but no interning of loyalists, and that internment would go ahead on 9 August.</blockquote>Faulkner himself later wrote, "The idea of arresting anyone as an exercise in political cosmetics was repugnant to me". Internment was planned and implemented from the highest levels of the British government. Specially trained personnel were sent to Northern Ireland to familiarize the local forces in what became known as the 'five techniques', methods of interrogation described by opponents as "a euphemism for torture". The available evidence suggests that some members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, trained in civilian policing, were unwilling to use such methods. In an internal memorandum dated 22 December 1971, one Brigadier Lewis reported to his superiors in London on the state of intelligence gathering in Northern Ireland, saying that he was "very concerned about lack of interrogation in depth" by the RUC and that "some Special Branch out station heads are not attempting to screw down arrested men and extract intelligence from them". However, he wrote that his colleagues "were due to do a quick visit by helicopter to these out stations to read the riot act".

The internments were initially carried out under Regulations 11 and 12 of 1956 and Regulation 10 of 1957 (the Special Powers Regulations), made under the authority of the Special Powers Act. The 1922 Special Powers Act (also known as the "Flogging Act") was renewed annually, in 1928 was renewed for five year and made permanent in 1933. The Act was repealed 1973. The Detention of Terrorists Order of 7 November 1972, made under the authority of the Temporary Provisions Act, was used after direct rule was instituted. Internees arrested without trial pursuant to Operation Demetrius could not complain to the European Commission of Human Rights about breaches of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) because on 27 June 1957, the UK lodged a notice with the Council of Europe declaring that there was a "public emergency within the meaning of Article 15(1) of the Convention".

All of those arrested were interrogated by the British Army and RUC. However, twelve internees were then chosen for further "deep interrogation", using sensory deprivation. This took place at a secret interrogation centre, which was later revealed to be Shackleton Barracks, outside Ballykelly. In October, a further two internees were chosen for deep interrogation. These fourteen became known as "the Hooded Men", or "the Guineapigs". After undergoing the same treatment as the other internees, the men were hooded, handcuffed and flown to the base by helicopter. On the way, soldiers severely beat them and threatened to throw them from the helicopter. When they arrived they were stripped naked, photographed, and examined by a doctor. For seven days, when not being interrogated, they were kept hooded and handcuffed in a cold cell and subjected to a continuous loud hissing noise. Here they were forced to stand in a stress position for many hours and were repeatedly beaten on all parts of their body. They were deprived of sleep, food and drink. Some of them also reported being kicked in the genitals, having their heads banged against walls, being shot at with blank rounds, and being threatened with injections. The result was severe physical and mental exhaustion, severe anxiety, depression, hallucinations, disorientation and repeated loss of consciousness. The interrogation methods used on the men became known as the 'five techniques'. Training and advice regarding the five techniques came from senior intelligence officials in the British government. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) defined the five techniques as follows:

The fourteen Hooded Men were the only internees subjected to the full five techniques. However, over the following months, some internees were subjected to at least one of the five techniques, as well as other interrogation methods. These allegedly included waterboarding, electric shocks, burning with matches and candles, forcing internees to stand over hot electric fires while beating them, beating and squeezing of the genitals, inserting objects into the anus, injections, whipping the soles of the feet, and psychological abuse such as Russian roulette.

The Irish Free State government had used internment during the Irish Civil War in the 1920s and the Irish government again used it during the IRA's campaign in the 1950s. In December 1970, Justice Minister Des O'Malley had announced that the policy was again under consideration. The Irish Times reported that if internment were introduced in Northern Ireland, it would follow in the Republic almost at once. However, when British Ambassador John Peck asked Taoiseach Jack Lynch on 30 July 1971 about this, Lynch replied that he had no grounds for introducing internment, and that if he did his government would collapse. Lynch also advised Peck to consider the consequences carefully. After Operation Demetrius, the Irish government pushed for radical changes in how Northern Ireland was governed. Paddy Hillery, the Irish Minister for External Affairs, met British Home Secretary Reginald Maudling in London on 9 August to demand that the Unionist government should be replaced by a power sharing coalition with 50/50 representation for the nationalist and unionist populations. This was a significant break from the Republic's previous position, which had been to press for unification. British Prime Minister Ted Heath's reaction was a dismissive telegram telling Lynch to mind his own business. He later accepted the advice of his own diplomats that humiliating Lynch and Hillery would make it less likely that they would co operate in tackling the IRA. Thereafter, Heath took a more conciliatory tone. He invited Lynch for a two day summit at Chequers, his official country residence, on 6–7 September 1971. This encounter seems to have changed his view of the problem: from then on, Heath took the view that there could be no lasting solution to the Northern Ireland problem without the co operation of the Irish government, and that the Irish nationalist population in Northern Ireland should have full participation in the government of Northern Ireland. In that sense, the illegal actions of the British government and armed forces during internment and the violent reaction against it led to a profound transformation in British policy. Irish ministers made the most of the leverage that the torture allegations had given them. Hugh McCann, a senior Irish diplomat, noted the tactical advantage the Irish government could gain through taking a case against the UK before the European Court, which would take years to be adjudicated: it would "make the British much more careful in their handling of detainees To the extent that this would slow down their gathering of intelligence information, it would make it more difficult for them to make progress in the direction of a military solution. If they succeeded in containing the situation from a military point of view, there would be less incentive for them to take unpalatable political action". The implications are (a) that the Irish government recognised the value of the intelligence which the British were acquiring (albeit illegally), and (b) that Dublin had a stake in impeding Britain's attempt to overcome the IRA by military means, at least until the British had implemented radical constitutional reforms opening up the path to Irish unification.

The Irish Government, on behalf of the men who had been subject to the five techniques, took a case to the European Commission on Human Rights (Ireland v. United Kingdom, 1976 Y. B. Eur. Conv. on Hum. Rts. 512, 748, 788–94 (Eur. Comm'n of Hum. Rts.)). The Commission stated that it

In 2013, declassified documents revealed the existence of the interrogation centre at Ballykelly. It had not been mentioned in any of the inquiries. Human rights group the Pat Finucane Centre accused the British Government of deliberately hiding it from the inquiries and the European Court of Human Rights. In June 2014, an RTÉ documentary entitled The Torture Files uncovered a letter from the British Home Secretary Merlyn Rees in 1977 to the then British Prime Minister James Callaghan. It confirmed that a policy of 'torture' had in fact been authorized by British Government ministers—specifically the Secretary for Defence Peter Carrington—in 1971, contrary to the knowledge of the Irish government or the ECHR. The letter states: "It is my view (confirmed by Brian Faulkner before his death) that the decision to use methods of torture in Northern Ireland in 1971/72 was taken by ministers – in particular Lord Carrington, then secretary of state for defence". Following the 2014 revelations, the President of Sinn Féin, Gerry Adams, called on the Irish government to bring the case back to the ECHR because the British government, he said, "lied to the European Court of Human Rights both on the severity of the methods used on the men, their long term physical and psychological consequences, on where these interrogations took place and who gave the political authority and clearance for it". On 2 December 2014, the Irish government announced that, having reviewed the new evidence and following requests from the survivors, it had decided to officially ask the ECHR to revise its 1978 judgement. In September of the same year, the ECHR refused to consider the case before its Grand Chamber, meaning that the case cannot be appealed any longer. In 2021, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom found that the use of the five techniques amounts to torture.