Video: 'The Birmingham Six Release, Live Broadcast. R.T.E. 1991'

(Thursday, March 14, 1991; during the Northern Ireland conflict) — A British appeals court, citing fresh evidence, today overturned the convictions of six men from Northern Ireland, known as the Birmingham Six, who were sentenced to life in prison for the bombings of two pubs in 1974, the bloodiest assault by the Irish Republican Army on the British mainland.

The defendants, who had insisted on their innocence all along, walked out of the Old Bailey criminal court building in central London this afternoon waving clenched fists, to cheers from supporters outside, some of whom had campaigned for years for their release.

The false conviction of the six men was seen one of the worst miscarriages of justice in modern British history.

Video: 'ITV documentary: The Birmingham Six: Their Own Story (tx. 18.03.1991)'

The Birmingham pub bombings were carried out on Nov. 21, 1974, when bombs exploded in two public houses in Birmingham, England, killing 21 people and injuring 182 others.

The Provisional Irish Republican Army never officially admitted responsibility for the Birmingham pub bombings, although a former senior officer of the organization confessed to their involvement in 2014.