OVER 180 years ago, Richard Lewis, better known as Dic Penderyn, was hanged on St Mary’s street in Cardiff, in the spot where the entrance to Cardiff Market is today.

Dic was just 23 years old and a miner who got caught up in the violent Merthyr Uprising that led to 16 people being killed after the army was called in to control the unrest.

In the summer of 1831, the towns and villages of industrial South Wales were bubbling with political discontent as the appalling working conditions in mines and iron works were compounded by cuts to wages. Families struggled to cope, food was in short supply and personal debt soared.

In Merthyr Tydfil the tension boiled over and there were riots on the streets. The building where the debt records were kept was ransacked. The army were summoned to stop the rioting and shot into the unarmed crowd.

Sixteen protesters were killed, while the army suffered no casualties apart from one soldier who was stabbed in the leg.

It was this crime that Dic was sentenced to death for.

There was no evidence that Dic was responsible and there was widespread outrage at the time.

A petition of 11,000 signatures asking for his death sentence to be overturned was even presented to the Home Secretary, to no avail.

Many years after Dic’s death, a man who had fled to America confessed to the crime.

Dic Penderyn’s famous last words - “O Arglwydd dyma gamwedd!” “Oh Lord, here is an injustice!” – became a rallying cry for the people of South Wales as they fought against their oppression and exploitation.

Dic’s martyrdom made him a symbol of the working class struggle for fairer working conditions and political representation.

This year, his descendants submitted an application to Michael Gove, the current Minister for Justice, for Dic’s conviction to be overturned and to grant him an official posthumous pardon.

In support of the family’s application, I raised a Statement of Opinion in the National Assembly with my Plaid Cymru colleague Lindsay Whittle. It has been signed by almost a third of AMs from all political parties, which shows the breadth of support for the pardon in Wales.

I have played just a small role in the campaign, so I felt deeply honoured to receive a letter from Dic’s family thanking me for my support.

All those years ago an innocent young man, a father to a small child, was put to death for taking to the streets to fight for a better life. It is finally time for that injustice to be righted.