Mr Adams was the leader of republican party Sinn Féin from 1983 until 2018.
He served as MP in his native west Belfast from 1983 to 1992 and again from 1997 until 2011 before sitting as a TD (Teachta Dála) in the Dáil (lower house of Irish parliament) between 2011 and 2020.
Mr Adams led the Sinn Féin delegation during peace talks that eventually brought an end to the Troubles after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
He was detained in the early 1970s when the government in Northern Ireland introduced internment without trial for those suspected of paramilitary involvement.
Mr Adams has consistently denied being a member of the IRA.
Why was the trial in front of a jury?
Jury trials are usually longer – and therefore more expensive – than those held in front of a judge acting alone.
The Republic of Ireland is in the process of overhauling its defamation laws, including the elimination of jury trials in High Court defamation cases.
In Northern Ireland, there has been "a presumption against jury trials" in libel cases since 2022.
- Listen: The State of Us: Gerry Adams v The BBC – The Verdict