Gerry Adams has won his appeal to have two convictions for attempting to escape from prison in the 1970s overturned.
The Supreme Court said the former Sinn Féin president’s convictions were quashed because Mr Adams’ detention was unlawful.
He attempted to escape from the Maze Prison, also known as Long Kesh internment camp, in 1973 and 1974. He was later sentenced to a total of four-and-a-half years in jail.
Mr Adams was in jail because he had been interned without trial, a practice that was introduced in Northern Ireland amid spiralling violence in the early 1970s.
More than 1,900 people suspected of being members of paramilitary organisations were detained, but many were arrested based on flawed intelligence.