A man has been granted leave of the High Court today to challenge the Justice Minister's refusal to grant him early release from prison under the Good Friday Agreement. Henry Doherty, who claimed to have been a founder member of the INLA, told Mr Justice Finnegan that he was serving a total of eight years' imprisonment in Portlaoise Prison for offences related to bank robberies and would expect, with remission, to be released on August 8, 2002.
He told the court that although he had disassociated himself from the INLA in 1985, he believed that he was entitled to early release under the Peace Agreement, on the basis that the INLA had declared and was maintaining a ceasefire in support of the Good Friday Accord. Doherty said that he had not been aligned with any other paramilitary organisation since breaking with the INLA. Mr Justice Finnegan granted Doherty leave to seek an order quashing the decision of the Minister not to consider him as a qualifying prisoner under the terms of the Belfast Agreement.
Doherty is also seeking a declaration that he had been convicted of offences similar to scheduled offences that exist in Northern Ireland, and that he is not affiliated to an organisation that is not on ceasefire. He grounded his application on the basis that the Justice Minister, John O'Donoghue, acted ultra vires his powers in the decision making process, and had taken into consideration irrelevant matters in making his decision.
