World : Ireland Refuses to Extradite Priest

The attorney general announced today he has rejected a British request to extradite a Roman Catholic priest with suspected terrorist connections, believing Britain would not give him a fair trial. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher called it “a great insult.”

Atty. Gen. John Murray, who made the decision, said Father Patrick Ryan might face trial in Ireland on charges of involvement in Irish Republican Army bombings. In concluding Ryan could not be fairly tried, Murray cited British official and press attacks on Ryan which were “expressed in intemperate language and frequently in the form of extravagantly worded headlines.”