Irish Prisoner Moved; Backers Fear Extradition

SAN FRANCISCO —  Northern Ireland fugitive James Joseph Smyth was moved Saturday from a federal prison in Northern California amid speculation he was extradited to Britain, his attorney and supporters said.

The San Francisco chapter of the Irish American Unity Conference, a group that has been supporting Smyth, released a statement saying Smyth was extradited.

“The long fight of Irish nationalist Jimmy Smyth to avoid extradition . . . ended in failure Saturday,” the group said.

Richard Kelly, one of Smyth’s lawyers, cautioned that it was not immediately clear whether he was extradited. The Justice Department had no immediate comment.

Smyth, one of 38 inmates who escaped from Northern Ireland’s Maze Prison in 1983, has battled British efforts to extradite him since he was arrested in 1992 in San Francisco.

He was convicted in 1978 of the attempted murder of an off-duty prison guard in Belfast and sentenced to 20 years. The British government said Smyth was a member of the Irish Republican Army, but he denied it and said he was innocent of the attempted murder.

In July, a federal judge in San Francisco authorized Smyth’s extradition, and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor later denied a bid for an emergency stay of lower-court rulings allowing his extradition.