Technology | 2009.07.31
McKinnon loses US extradition appeal
There were emotional scenes outside the high court today after computer hacker Gary McKinnon lost a further attempt to avoid his extradition to America on charges of breaching US military and Nasa computers.
McKinnon, who has been diagnosed with Asperger\'s syndrome, would suffer from a "severe mental breakdown" if forced to serve up to 60 years in an American jail, his mother, Janis Sharp, said, pleading with politicians to intervene.
"Why aren\'t they stopping the extradition of a man who is clearly vulnerable and who on the accepted evidence suffers from Asperger\'s?" Sharp said. "Gary is clearly someone who is not equipped to deal with the American penal system and there is clear evidence that he will suffer a severe mental breakdown if extradited."
In a judgment Sharp described as "heartbreaking", the court refused McKinnon\'s request that the home secretary, Alan Johnson, should be forced to reconsider the case, describing the extradition as "a lawful and proportionate response".
Lawyers for the 43-year-old, who have already announced they will appeal against the decision, said they were encouraged by a display of sympathy for McKinnon in the judgment, which acknowledged expert evidence of a "high risk of serious deterioration in his mental health and a risk of suicide".
"I have no doubt that he will find extradition to, and trial and sentence and detention in, the US very difficult indeed," said Lord Justice Stanley Burnton. "His mental health will suffer. There are risks of worse, including suicide."
The judge added: "But … the sentence that will be imposed by the US courts will take account of his diagnosis of Asperger\'s and the difficulties that he will in consequence face in a US prison."
The home secretary said he had received assurances from the US government, including a guarantee McKinnon would be assessed by doctors and psychologists were he to be transferred to an American jail, and would receive "appropriate medical care and treatment". The assurances came in a letter from the US justice department in February, seen by the court.
The case also challenged the director of public prosecutions, who lawyers argue could prosecute McKinnon in the UK on lesser charges of computer misuse, preventing his extradition. "It is not for this court to decide where he should be prosecuted," the court ruled, refusing to order the DPP to review his position. "The decision is that of the DPP. As appears from the preceding paragraphs of this judgment, he cannot be faulted for considering that, other things being equal, the claimant should be prosecuted in the USA."
The verdict follows the latest in a long line of legal moves by McKinnon, who describes himself as a "UFO enthusiast", after he was accused in 2002 of using his home computer to hack into 97 US military and Nasa computers, causing more than $700,000 in damage according to the US. The case comes two weeks after the Conservatives proposed an amendment to extradition law which would have allowed courts to block extraditions in cases where a significant part of the offence was committed in the UK and where extradition was "not in the interests of justice".
"This would have made a huge difference to McKinnon\'s case," said a spokesman for the human rights group Liberty.
The decision is likely to build further support for McKinnon, who has been backed by civil rights groups and senior Liberal Democrats and Tories."I am deeply saddened with this decision", said the Tory leader, David Cameron. "Gary McKinnon is a vulnerable young man and I see no compassion in sending him thousands of miles away from his home and loved ones to face trial."
"Today\'s judgment is a hammer blow to a vulnerable man," said Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne.
The case has also led to criticism of the Anglo-US extradition treaty, which critics say is tipped towards the US. New figures reveal Britain has extradited twice as many suspects to the US as have gone the other way. Critics say this indicates Britons have "second-class status" when it comes to being sent for trial in the US. "Today\'s court decision demonstrates the disgrace that is Britain\'s extradition arrangements that allow vulnerable people to be shipped off around the world when they should be tried here at home," said Isabella Sankey, Liberty policy director.
"There is no way the American government would hang out one of their citizens to dry in the same way," said Huhne. "
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul[...]y-mckinnon-hacker-aspergers-us
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