The mother of Gerry Conlon, one of the Guilford Four, has died, her family said last night.
Sarah Conlon, who campaigned tirelessly to clear her son's name, died aged 82 after a long battle with cancer.
The mother-of-three, who lived all her life in west Belfast, fought for justice for Gerry and also her late husband Giuseppe, who was also wrongly jailed and died in prison.
The Guildford Four were freed in 1989 and eventually received a public apology in 2005 from then prime minister Tony Blair.
The Guildford Four - Gerry Conlon, Paul Hill, Carole Richardson and Paddy Armstrong - were jailed for life in 1975 for the 1974 IRA Guildford and Woolwich pub bombing in which seven people were killed and scores injured. In October 1989 the Court of Appeal quashed the sentences of the Guildford Four after doubts were raised about the police evidence and they were set free.
Giuseppe Conlon was jailed in 1976 for a related alleged bomb-making offence when he travelled to England to arrange a legal defence for his son. He had one lung, emphysema and had just undergone chemotherapy. He died in Hammersmith Hospital in 1980 just four years into his sentence. Eleven years later, his conviction was also overturned.
Sixteen years after their release, then Mr Blair said sorry for the miscarriage of justice in a television recording from his office. ""I am very sorry that they were subject to such an ordeal and injustice ... That is why I am making this apology today - they deserve to be completely and publicly exonerated," he told the House of Commons in 2005.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan, who was central in securing the apology, described Sarah Conlon as a true heroine of our age.
"Of no-one can the words 'patience of a saint' be more true and she was not just distinguished by her patience," Mr Durkan said.
"This small lady of frail frame had huge reserves of faith, fortitude and remarkable forgiveness.
"What Sarah, Guiseppe and Gerry Conlon and their family had to endure physically, psychologically and personally would have given Sarah more cause to hate than most."
Mr Durkan said Mrs Conlon fought her campaign with dignity, decency and determination for her son and late husband.
"When Sarah and Gerry asked me to secure an apology from Tony Blair it was clear that she needed it for Gerry, and Gerry needed it for her. But they both wanted it for Guiseppe," the SDLP leader said.
"In her dignity, determination and decency she was a shining example to us all."