NEW Lodge man Joe Doherty has paid a heart-felt tribute to an attorney who captured the attention of Irish America over her long legal fight to prevent his deportation from the US to prison in the North of Ireland.
Hungary native Mary Boresz Pike died on October 12. Along with her law partner, Steve Somerstein, she made national and world headlines in a nine-year legal back and forth with the US over Joe Doherty's extradition.
Joe Doherty was an IRA volunteer who escaped from Crumlin Road Jail during his 1981 trial for the killing of SAS Captain Herbert Westmacott on the Antrim Road in 1980.
Joe eventually escaped across the border and travelled to the United States on a false passport. He was arrested in 1983 and imprisoned in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, and a legal battle ensued with the British government seeking to extradite him back to the North, with Joe claiming he was immune from extradition as the killing of Westmacott was a political act.
After his arrest in the States, Joe became a cause célèbre for Irish-Americans while fighting an ultimately unsuccessful nine-year legal battle against extradition and deportation.
Judge Sprizzo ruled that the discipline of the IRA's Provisional wing made the killing a political act that was excluded by the extradition treaty between the United States and Britain. Ultimately Sprizzo's ruling led to changes in United States extradition laws.
Doherty was eventually sent back to the North of Ireland in February 1992 but later released from prison under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
"Steve died a few years ago and the loss of Mary is a big loss," said Joe.
"They were involved in a lot of human rights and civil cases and mine was probably the most well-known one.
Joe Doherty
"I was involved with Mary and Steve for nine years. They were very active in the civil rights movement. They were fantastic.
"In my trial, I had to prove the ambush on the Antrim Road and escape from Crumlin Road Jail was political.
"While the judge did not support the IRA campaign, they did believe it was political in nature.
"Mary and Steve believed in my case and that I deserved my day in court. Judge Sprizzo's decision was all down to Mary and Steve. They were very smart and strategic in how to tackle it.
"After my case, the political exemption law was changed. I was the person held for the longest time in jail in America. It was a long nine years."
