Almost universally, extradition treaties between sovereign nations have a political asylum exception. The political asylum exception typically states that extradition shall not be granted for an offense which is a political offense or an offense connected with a political offense.

The 1986 treaty between the United States and Great Britain regarding Northern Ireland is unique of all extradition treaties worldwide and historically is the only treaty that makes political asylum obsolete only for Northern Irish political refugees who have made their home in the Untied States. The United States, the land of the free, dropped its 200 years of political asylum in favor of the British, who have been less than an impartial participant in the oppression of Catholics or Nationalists in the North of Ireland.

The reason the United States entered into this treaty was an exchange between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan which involved the United States giving up political asylum for Northern Irish political refugees in exchange for the British allowing the United States to bomb Libya with planes launched from English soil. That issue has long since been dead, but the oppression of Catholics in the North of Ireland continues through the Loyalist terrorist organizations that continue to kill Catholics, despite the cease-fire by the IRA.

The Supplemental Treaty of 1986 changes the standard for Irish Northern political prisoners, placing the burden of proof on them that they will be punished because of their race, religion, nationality, or political opinion when they are returned to Northern Ireland. With the longstanding misconception that there is no prejudice against Catholics in the North by the British or the Loyalists by British propaganda which clothes themselves and the Loyalists as victims of the IRA, rather than the other way around, as history will show, makes it difficult for political prisoners in the United States who are subject to extradition to be able to make a case that they will in fact be discriminated against and punished in the future because of their religion even though the charges against them have not been supported by any credible evidence whatsoever, and the warrants have been issued by Diplock Courts which notoriously are more of an adjunct to the prison system than as a part of an independent, impartial judiciary. When political prisoners are convicted on no other evidence than confession extorted by Royal Ulster Constabulary brutality, those warrants should never be honored for any purpose in the United States.

Some states have laws which prohibit the recognition of a foreign judgment if there are inconclusive or nonrecognizable judgments, i.e., a foreign judgment is not conclusive if the judgment was rendered under a system which does not provide impartial tribunals or procedures compatible with due process of law. The Diplock Courts in the North of Ireland are totally devoid of due process of law, which is a fundamental Constitutional right in this country. We cannot remain true to our principles and sell our political asylum. It is questionable whether or not a treaty which is not consistent with the Constitution of the United States is even a valid treaty in the first place.