Judge Frees Fugitive Irish Nationalist : Courts: James Joseph Smyth would face persecution in prison, federal jurist rules in barring extradition to Britain.

A federal judge Thursday refused to order the extradition of an Irish nationalist and prison escapee to Britain to complete his sentence for attempted murder, saying the man would face persecution because of his political views.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Caulfield ordered the immediate release of James Joseph Smyth from jail, where he has been held except for short intervals since his capture by federal agents in San Francisco in June, 1992.

Based on evidence of conditions in Northern Ireland and Smyth’s past treatment in and out of prison, he would probably be in danger in prison and after his release, Caulfield said.

The “frequent stops, arrests, interrogations, beatings and searches of his home” to which Smyth was subjected as a known Irish nationalist are “a harbinger of things to come if Mr. Smyth returns to the streets of Northern Ireland,” Caulfield wrote. She also quoted a prison warden as saying he could not guarantee Smyth’s safety in prison.

Smyth was released from the federal prison at Dublin, Calif., about an hour after the ruling was issued, and he headed for a celebration at an Irish pub in San Francisco, according to one of his supporters, who asked not to be identified.

Smyth’s case is a potential precedent-setter for other fugitives from Northern Ireland, including three fellow participants in a 1983 jailbreak now awaiting extradition hearings in San Francisco.

Caulfield is the first judge to interpret restrictions on extradition under a 1986 treaty between the United States and Britain. The treaty bars extradition of anyone who would face persecution on account of race, religion, nationality or political opinions.

The British government, represented in the case by the U.S. Justice Department, has appealed every unfavorable ruling so far, and has twice won reversal of Caulfield’s decisions freeing Smyth on bail.

Smyth, now 40, of Belfast, describes himself as an Irish nationalist and member of Sinn Fein, the political party affiliated with the Irish Republican Army, but says he is nonviolent and has never been an IRA member.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 1977 attempted murder of an off-duty prison guard, in which he continues to maintain his innocence. In 1983, he and 37 other men, all described by British authorities as terrorists or sympathizers, fled from the Maze prison near Belfast in the largest such escape in British history.

Nearly nine years later, Smyth was arrested in San Francisco, where he lived under an assumed name, was married and worked as a house painter.

At Smyth’s trial, his lawyer demanded reports of police investigations into allegations that security forces had practiced a “shoot-to-kill” policy against suspected terrorists in the late 1970s. Citing security concerns, the British government refused to provide the reports.

As a consequence, the judge said she would presume that Catholic Irish nationalists such as Smyth, accused or convicted of crimes against security forces or government officials, were subjected to retaliation, physical intimidation and death, with the participation or endorsement of government forces.

Although several fugitives have recently been returned to the Maze without incident, the past treatment of Smyth and his fellow escapees suggests that he would be a target, Caulfield said.