Thousands of former Republican prisoners this week took part in the funeral procession of one of the founders of the Provisional IRA who died last weekend.

Brendan Hughes, 59, died in hospital on February 16 after a lengthy illness. Hughes, nicknamed the "Dark," had become a Republican legend while leading the Provisional IRA in Belfast in the 1970s.

In July 1973 he was arrested alongside Gerry Adams and interned without trial in Long Kesh. Six months later, he escaped hidden in a mattress.

For the next five months he led the IRA in Belfast, assuming the role of toy salesman Arthur McAllister, wearing a suit and living in a plush suburban house.

He was eventually arrested and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for possession of weapons.

In 1976, Hughes led Republican protests against the opening of the infamous H Blocks. The five-year battle within the prison started with the "Blanket" protest and later the "No Wash" protest. In 1980/1981 it culminated in two hunger strikes. Hughes personally led the first hunger strike. He ended it after 53 days in the belief that a deal had been agreed with the British government. When that deal collapsed in controversy, another hunger strike was launched, which ended in the deaths of Bobby Sands and nine other Republicans.

Hughes never fully recovered physically or emotionally from the trauma of the hunger strikes. He was released from prison in 1986 and returned to live in Belfast.

Throughout the 1990s, he was openly critical of the Sinn Fein leadership's political direction, particularly his old friend Adams. However, in the days before his death, Hughes is understood to have made his peace with Adams, who visited him in hospital.

On Tuesday the Sinn Fein leader carried the coffin of his former comrade as the 2,000-strong funeral cortege made its way through west Belfast.

Paying tribute to his former comrade, Adams said: "Brendan was a very good friend and comrade over many years of struggle.

"Although he disagreed with the direction taken in recent years, he was held in high esteem by all who knew him."

"Brendan will be missed, not least by his family, but also by the wider Republican family with whom he dedicated such a large part of his life in furtherance of Irish republican goals. He was my friend."

In the US, Jack Meehan, the national president of the AOH, Jack Meehan, also paid respect to Hughes.

"The Irish Republican cause has lost one of its bravest soldiers who dedicated his life to ending British rule in Ireland," Meehan said.

"Generations to come in Ireland will reap the benefits of his courage and sacrifice on the certain day when British rule ends in the six counties."

Meanwhile, tributes were this week paid to Maggie Hughes, the mother of hunger striker Francis Hughes, who passed away on Tuesday.