Sheehy Affair

the prosecution by British authorities of the Irish patriot Nicholas Sheehy, who publicly condemned the national and religious discrimination against the Irish. In 1765, Sheehy was accused of belonging to the White Boys, a clandestine peasant organization. Owing to a lack of any evidence, the court found Sheehy not guilty. However, Sheehy was soon brought to trial again on a charge of murdering a police informant and was convicted on the testimony of suborned witnesses; he was sentenced to death and was hanged. The legal reprisal against Sheehy was a manifestation of the policy of terror practiced by the British colonizers in Ireland.