Irish Republican News · June 5, 2025

Anger as Shea Reynolds now held seven years without bail

A republican who has been denied liberty for seven years on a legal pretext has been denied bail once more.

The Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association (IRPWA) said it “unequivocally condemns” the move, which means Shea Reynolds will continue to be held under lock and key at Britain’s highest security jail in the north of Ireland, despite not having a single conviction to his name.

Shea Reynolds had been waiting almost six months for a decision on a bail application made in December 2024. A trial which supposedly began in October 2023, and was originally scheduled to last only four weeks, remains suspended without closing arguments or judgment.

Mr Reynolds is now the longest-serving remand prisoner in the history of the Six County state in what has become a shameful secret of the Stormont establishment.

“Shea Reynolds has not been found guilty of any crime. Yet he remains incarcerated, separated from his family, friends, and community for over half a decade. If this is not internment, then what is it?” the IRPWA asked.

“Worse still is the silence in certain so-called Republican quarters. It would appear that, for some, it is perfectly acceptable that Shea continues to rot in a British prison cell, absent of due process, absent of justice.

“Is it that some no longer find such cases politically expedient to speak about? The lack of condemnation, the absence of even the most basic highlighting of this ongoing injustice, is not only shameful, it is sickening.”

“This is not just an attack on Shea Reynolds. It is an attack on all who refuse to bend the knee to the colonial occupation of our country. It is part of the British state’s ongoing strategy to criminalise, isolate, and suppress those who dare to resist.

“IRPWA stands firmly with Shea Reynolds and his family. We demand his immediate release and call on all who claim to oppose British rule in Ireland to speak out. Internment did not end, it was merely rebranded. And Shea’s case is proof of that enduring, disgraceful reality.”

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