Recently U.S. Atty. Gen. Richard Thornburgh decreed that Joe Doherty should be ”deported to England,” despite the fact that the U.S. Immigration Board of Appeals had demonstrated a ”prima facie” case in such an event. What this means is that Joe Doherty, per Mr. Thornburgh`s edict, will not be allowed his day in court and that the only thing now preventing his deportation is the fact that Mr. Doherty`s U.S. attorney has litigation pending in the Second Court of Appeals in New York City.
Mr. Thornburgh`s decision is the gravest decision to be taken in six years regarding Joe Doherty`s case. He was picked up in New York as an
”undocumented alien” six years ago and has been confined to a U.S. prison since at the behest of the British government, despite the fact that he has not been charged or convicted of any crime in this country.
In 1984 a U.S. District Court judge ruled that Joe Doherty could not be extradited to England because the acts for which the British seek him were of a ”political character” and not common crimes.
Mr. Thornburgh`s edict undermines our laws and judicial system in seeking to please a foreign country.
