Morrison set for Court of Appeal

Morrison is a former director of publicity for Sinn Fein

Former IRA prisoner Danny Morrison's bid to clear his name is to go to the Court of Appeal.

He and Gerard Hodgkins were convicted of false imprisonment in 1991.

A court found the pair were involved in the false imprisonment of Sandy Lynch in Belfast for two days in Jaunary 1990.

Morrison was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment, Hodgkins received a ten-year jail term. Appeals by both men against conviction were dismissed.

Both subsequently submitted applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which has now referred both convictions to the Court of Appeal.

The commission's reasons for referral have not been disclosed.

Danny Morrison is the best known of the two men - he is a former director of publicity for Sinn Fein - and the man who coined the phrase, 'the armalite and the ballot box'.