Conviction: Possession of firearms and explosives, hijacking a car
Sentence: 18 years
Joined Hunger Strike: 22nd May
Suicided: 2nd August

Born in Andersonstown in west Belfast in 1955, Kieran/Ciaran Doherty was the third of 6 children in his family and won a Co. Antrim minor medal for GAA in 1971. Doherty's family had been involved with the IRA long before Kieran was even born, with his uncle, Ned Maguire, part of a rooftop breakout from Crumlin Road prison in Belfast in 1943 and Ned's son (also called Ned) had broken out from Long Kesh when it was an internment camp before being recaptured at Twinbrook. Young Ned's sisters were members of the women's republican paramilitary organisation, Cumann na mBan and were killed by the army in 1971.

That Autumn, Doherty joined na Fianna Eireann (an organisation proscribed to this day under the 2000 Terrorism Act, originally set up in 1902 and later allied with the anti-Treaty IRA in the Irish war of independence) and worked hard to impress, hoping to be recruited by the IRA. It seemed to work.

Unfortunately for Doherty the army had noticed his activities, and they eventually came to arrest him in October 1972, however they had to release him when it was proved he was under 17 (by 10 days). When the army lay in wait for him on his 17th birthday, he had already been warned and transported across the border and down to Limerick until early in 1973 when he returned to Belfast, eager to get "back into action".

A week after returning he was arrested and interned for 2½ years at Long Kesh, and was released when the government abandoned internment. On his release in November 1975 he immediately reported back to the IRA and was involved in a series of attacks on the army and was chased by them once while transporting weapons, but managed to evade arrest.

His "heavy involvement" with the IRA meant he had little time for his girlfriend, Geraldine, even when he wasn't in prison. This "heavy involvement" would later ensure he had even less time with Geraldine. In August 1976 he was part of a group of IRA members carrying out a bomb attack near Balmoral Avenue in Belfast. As the police were chasing the van he got out, leaving his 'comrades', and stole a car, abandoning it a number of streets away. His accomplices were arrested following the chase and Doherty was picked up a mile and a half away.

He was charged and convicted of stealing the car and possession of firearms and explosives, which earned him a total of 22 years in prison (4 for hijacking the car, 18 for possession). Once in prison, Doherty was often punished for his insolence towards the warders. He joined the hunger strike on 22nd May (replacing Raymond McCreesh) the day before INLA member Kevin Lynch, and was to finally die the day after – a total of 73 days, making Kieran Doherty the most successful (or least efficient) of his batch of hunger strikers.