BY TAMI PETERSON
SAN FRANCISCO - On July 27 a U.S. appeals court ruled that Jimmy Smyth, one of the H-Block Four who escaped from Long Kesh prison in Northern Ireland in 1983, will be handed over to British officials there. The three-judge panel claimed that Smyth's life would not be in danger if he were returned.
Judge Mary Schroeder stated, "Smyth would have to demonstrate... that the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland likely would exact additional retribution for his crime beyond the remaining term of imprisonment."
In the initial ruling against Smyth's extradition last September, Judge Barbara Caulfield ruled that because of collusion between the British Army and loyalist paramilitary forces, Smyth's life would be in danger from right-wing death squads.
The appeals court said Caulfield relied improperly on the British government's general discrimination against Catholics and opponents of British rule in Northern Ireland. The evidence did support Smyth's argument that he would be abused in prison, Schroeder said, but failed to prove that the abuse would be based on his politics or religion.
The appeals court characterized Smyth as a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which he denies. Smyth was never charged with membership in the IRA. He was an activist in Sinn Fein, a legal political organization that is opposed to the British occupation of Northern Ireland and seeks the reunification of Ireland's 32 counties.
Letters and statements of support for Smyth came from many organizations and activists. A news release from the H- Block Defense Committee in San Francisco stated, "All who support our cause, all who speak for freedom everywhere will rally now to be heard."
Maggie Lynch, Smyth's wife, said, "Had they [the judges] read the testimony, it would have been clear that all former political prisoners' lives are in danger in the north of Ireland." In Ireland Sinn Fein, the Saoirse campaign to free political prisoners, and the Irish Anti-Extradition Committee called for an end to the extraditions.
"Smyth is a criminal," said British consul general Malcolm Dougal in a letter published in the San Francisco Chronicle August 8. Dougal was responding to a letter by Ciaran Scally, president of the local Irish Northern Aid chapter. "How would Mr. Scally feel if after conviction, the Oklahoma City bomber should escape to the United Kingdom?" the British official demanded. "With their decision to extradite Smyth, the U.S. appellate court upheld the rule of law in the fight against terrorism."
Tony Mastrogiorgio, a spokesman for the San Francisco H- Block Defense Committee, responded in the Chronicle later that week. "Here are the facts," he wrote. "Smyth was convicted in a non-jury court by a political judge. The man and woman he is alleged to have attacked, and with whom the assailant spent several minutes, failed to identify Smyth.... Smyth was arrested some distance from the scene of the attack by an off-duty policeman, who claimed to have recognized the back of Smyth's head. That remarkable identification was good enough for a 20-year prison sentence.
"Smyth's case is just one of the hundreds of similar abuses in that beleaguered province," Mastrogiorgio noted.
`I'm going to keep fighting'
After the ruling Smyth stated "I'm just going to stay
and keep fighting, just like people in the north of Ireland
are fighting for peace." He urged supporters to keep
struggling, "We've been so close. If we give up now, they've
won."
Smyth expressed his concern that this ruling was a blow to the remaining H-Block Four, Terry Kirby, Pol Brennan, and Kevin Barry Artt, who have already spent up to three years awaiting trial in U.S. jails. "Their judge was waiting for this decision before letting them out on bail... At least I've been out for months. Those fellows haven't been allowed out a single day since their arrests," Smyth said.
Smyth, arrested in 1992, had worked as a house painter in San Francisco for eight years. He has been free on bond since September 1994. After the recent ruling, the U.S. Justice Department initially moved to revoke his bail, declaring Smyth "a flight risk." The same three judge panel later decided not to revoke bail.
Smyth intends to appeal before the full Ninth Circuit Court and, if necessary, take it to the Supreme Court.
The San Francisco chapter of Saoirse is planning various protest actions in the San Francisco Bay Area, including picketing the British Consulate August 31, the anniversary of the cease-fire in Northern Ireland, and protesting an October 5-7 speaking tour by former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Saoirse received a great response to a table and leafleting at an August 12 demonstration demanding justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal.