sentences:  Bobby Sands, the first of the strikers, was elected as a Member of Parliament for the constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone a few weeks before he died of starvation.Thatcher refused to countenance a return to political status for republican prisoners, famously declaring "Crime is crime is crime; it is not political".After nine more men had died, most rights were restored to paramilitary prisoners, but official recognition of their political status was not granted.