Family and friends of Hooded Man Pat Shivers are set to mark the 40th anniversary of his death today.
From the Toome area, Mr shivers died after an illness on February 3 1985, aged 54.
He was one of 14 Catholic men subjected to state-sanctioned torture when they were interned in 1971.
A father-of-five, Mr Shivers suffered a horrendous experience at the hands of his interrogators after being detained at his home in August 1971 and brought to Ballykelly British army base in Co Derry.
A week later, during which he lost one stone in weight, he was transferred to Crumlin Road Prison in Belfast.
He later told Fr Raymond Murray, who highlighted the men’s case, how he was hooded, denied food and water, was beaten repeatedly and passed out during interrogation.
He said at one point he imagined he had died.
Some of the men were thrown from helicopters and told they were at high altitude despite being just feet from the ground.
The techniques used against the 14 men included being hooded, made to stand in stress positions, forced to listen to loud static noise and being deprived of sleep, food and water.
In 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that the methods used “would be characterised today” as torture.
None of the Hooded Men were convicted of any wrongdoing.
In June 2023 the PSNI apologised to the men over the treatment they received more than 50 years ago.
Mr Shivers’ anniversary comes just weeks after another member of the Hooded Men group, west Belfast man Kevin Hannaway died.
Hooded Men campaigner and Jim McIlmurray described Mr Shivers as “a well-known and respected civil rights activist and abhorred violence”.
“I still find the details of what Pat Shivers was subjected to in August 1971 partially difficult to read,” he said.
“On his release, Pat lived a tormented life, what these people had done to him destroyed all quality of life.”
Mr Shivers’ wife Betty and her family have continued their campaign for justice.
“Pat’s widow Betty and his five sons are a credit to him,” Mr McIlmurray said.
“For over five decades they have fought and campaigned for justice for him and the other 13 men subjected to methods of torture authorised at the highest level of the British government.”
Mr McIlmurray said the British government has yet to acknowledge the 2021 court ruling.
“The British government is yet to publicly acknowledge the findings of the Supreme Court and hoped the apology by the PSNI in 2023 for the involvement of members of the RUC in it would make it go away, well it won’t,” he said.
“The British government as a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) led calls for ICC to investigate Russia’s war crimes including the use of torture.
“They have some front on them considering the findings of their own courts.”
The campaigner added that “the seven surviving Hooded Men and the families of the deceased will all remember Pat on this day”.
