BY NORTON SANDLER
SAN FRANCISCO-Irish freedom fighters Terry Kirby, Pol
Brennan, and Kevin Barry Artt were released on bail here
October 16 after spending the last 14 months in a federal
prison awaiting extradition to Northern Ireland.
The bail came a week after a federal appellate court overturned a lower court ruling ordering the three returned to Northern Ireland under the terms of 1986 extradition treaty with the government of the United Kingdom. The appellate court sent the case back to the federal district court for a new trial. Kirby's bail was set at $1 million, Artt's and Brennan's at $500,000.
The U.S. government is indicating that they will continue to pursue extradition of the three, who are scheduled to appear in court again on November 13.
Kirby, Brennan, and Artt were among 38 republican prisoners who escaped from the H-Block wing of the Long Kesh prison in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1983. Along with a fourth republican freedom fighter, Jimmy Smyth, they were arrested by the FBI in California between 1992 and 1996. They became known as the H-Block 4 and their cases received wide publicity internationally. Smyth was deported back to prison in Northern Ireland in 1996.
In overturning the earlier decision, the appellate court stated that the trial judge did not give proper consideration to the fact that Artt and Kirby's so-called "confessions" had been coerced during their original trials in Northern Ireland in British diplock (non-jury) proceedings.
In a telephone interview, Terry Kirby told the Militant, "This is not about us three guys, this victory is about the people of Northern Ireland. The great work they are doing gets results, including in the United States."
Commenting on his incarceration, Kirby added, "Jail is jail, no matter where you are. None of us had charges against us in this country. We shouldn't have been in jail in the first place."
Kirby was also elated about the releases of other prisoners back in Northern Ireland under the terms of the peace accord. "I just heard that two women were released from jail and that both Jimmy Smyth and Joe Doherty were given preliminary reports -that means they are due out anytime now," he stated.
Doherty, like Smyth, was extradited to Northern Ireland from the United States after losing a several year legal battle to win political asylum in this country.
Norton Sandler is a member of International Association of Machinists Local 1781.