Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams questioned in connection with 1972 murder

WILL MCNAMEE/Getty Images

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams questioned in connection with 1972 murder
(Image credit: WILL MCNAMEE/Getty Images)

Gerry Adams is being questioned in connection to the 1972 murder of Jean McConville, a mother of 10 who was abducted by a dozen Provisional IRA members and shot in the head. Her body was discovered at a Lough beach in 2003. Adams is currently the leader of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern Ireland.

Adams was a key figure in "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland and the peace process afterward. Over the last 15 years Gerry Adams has attempted something of public-image rehabilitation. But his activities as leader of "the psychotic IRA division in Belfast" have not been forgotten. He has been accused of sanctioning a series of terrorist attacks in London in the 1970s. And over the last two years, released testimony of several IRA members — including former Belfast commander Brendan Hughes — have named Adams as the one who ordered the murder and secret burial of Jean McConville in 1972.

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Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is the founder and editor of The Slurve, a newsletter about baseball. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, ESPN Magazine, Slate and The American Conservative.