Tony Taylor is a community activist and former Provisional IRA inmate from Northern Ireland who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 1994 after he was seriously injured in a premature explosion in Derry. He was released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. [1] In 2011 Taylor was arrested for possession of a rifle [2] and released in 2014. [3] Taylor was arrested two years later [4] on the street in Derry, Northern Ireland on 10 March 2016 while on a shopping trip with his wife and children [5] and was held for more than 2 years and 8 months in Maghaberry Prison near Lisburn in County Antrim.
Calls for Tony Taylor's release came from members of Derry City and Strabane District Council, [6] Mayor of Derry, Maolíosa McHugh, [7] Northern Ireland MP Elisha McCallion, [8] and Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Coveney. [9] Taylor's case was also raised in the Irish Senate, [10] the European Parliament [11] and the Commissioner for Human Rights. [12] The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) said that Tony Taylor's license was revoked by the Parole Commission because he posed a risk to the public, but his legal team were excluded from hearing evidence against him, which was heard in a closed session. [13]
On 28 November 2018, Taylor was freed after 993 days of imprisonment. [14] [15]