§ 44. Mr. Straussasked the Attorney-General why the prosecution applied to have the charge of treason and felony against Mr. Thomas Quinn quashed, after he had spent many months in prison on remand.
§ The Attorney-GeneralThis prosecution arose following publication in June 1972 of photographs in the Press of men in masks over a training layout table during a Press conference given by an 283W organisation called Northern Ireland Minority Defence Force.
Two counts of treason felony were included in the indictment by senior Treasury counsel together with other counts and seditious conspiracy, uttering seditious words and offences under the Public Order Act, because the evidence indicated that Mr. Quinn, and two others, had been engaged in activities which justified those counts. When senior Treasury counsel at the trial was informed that the defendants intended to plead guilty to other counts, he applied for the counts of treason felony to be quashed and the accused were sentenced on those other counts.