U.S. Court Orders Fugitive’s Extradition to N. Ireland

SAN FRANCISCO — Rejecting a federal judge’s findings of probable persecution, an appeals court Thursday ordered the extradition to Northern Ireland of a nationalist who escaped in 1983 while serving a sentence for attempted murder.

James Joseph Smyth’s extradition was barred last September by U.S. District Judge Barbara Caulfield. Citing his history of interrogations and beatings by police, his allegations of abuse in prison and claims that former prisoners were targeted for murder, she said Smyth faced probable persecution because of his Catholic religion and political views.

But the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the evidence failed to show that any future harsh treatment, either in prison or after his release, would be religious or political persecution.

In finding that Smyth would be persecuted in prison, Caulfield failed to “distinguish between the relative importance of Smyth’s crime and his escape on the one hand, and his political and religious views on the other,” said Judge Mary Schroeder in the 3-0 ruling.

She also said evidence that some former prisoners had been harassed, possibly with government involvement, did not prove that Smyth would be persecuted after he served the remaining two to five years of his sentence.

The decision was the first by an appellate court on treatment of Irish fugitives under a 1986 treaty between the United States and Britain, which bars extradition of those who would face punishment because of their religion, nationality or political views. That language replaced a previous ban on extradition for “political” crimes.