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Gary McKinnon: ‘no reason to stop his extradition’
Computer hacker’s family and lawyers shocked at decision of ‘cold-hearted’ Alan Johnson
The last-ditch appeal by computer hacker Gary McKinnon not to be extradited to the United States, where he faces ten years in jail for hacking into military and Nasa computers and causing $700,000 worth of damage, has been dismissed by Home Secretary Alan Johnson.
McKinnon, 43, who has always admitted the 2002 hacking but explained that he was looking for evidence of UFOs not military secrets, has Asperger's Syndrome. His family fear he is a serious suicide risk if he receives a long jail term.
But they received a letter yesterday from the Home Secretary saying there were no medical grounds on which to block the extradition. After a lengthy series of failed appeals, it would now "proceed forthwith".
Johnson's decision has been met with a mixture of surprise and anger. One Westminster insider told The First Post: "I really thought Johnson was going to come through. It is hard to believe this is the man who many thought might make a popular replacement for Gordon Brown as Labour leader. Frankly, he's coming over as a cold-hearted bastard."
McKinnon's mother, Janis Sharp, said: "Gary is at risk of suicide, I'm extremely worried about him. This government is terrified of speaking up to America, and now they are allowing vulnerable people to be pursued for non-violent crime when they should be going after terrorists."
The Labour government and Johnson should "hang their heads in shame,"she said. "To force a peaceful, vulnerable, misguided UFO fanatic like Gary thousands of miles away from his much-needed support network is barbaric."
The eminent human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC told the Guardian: "To send a British citizen to the US, without any right to bail, to face 10 years in prison for a crime for which he would be unlikely to receive any custodial sentence if tried here amounts to 'cruel and unusual' punishment in breach of our 1689 Bill of Rights. The Home Secretary should not hide behind the weasel words of the European Convention when he should be following the law laid down by our own historic bill of rights."
McKinnon's lawyer, Karen Todner, said she had not given up hope. "We are going to issue judicial review proceedings. We normally have three months to do this but have now been given seven days to issue.
"We cannot give up because in some ways it's like dealing with a death row case, and we genuinely believe Gary's life is at stake here." ·
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And where was the cooperation Britain got from the yankees over the death of Matty Hull?? None, of course, because the YANKS don't care a damn about anyone except themselves.
Zanu Labour - always doing whatever Yankee Doodle says. A gutless spineless bunch of yankee cocksuckers.
McKinnon executed a very very simple PERL script to break into these computers - Americans should be thanking him for exposing the utter ineptitude of their own security people.
So, Mr Alan Johnson, what exactly have the Americans got over you and your kind?
Well, you have this Labour government to thank for the present extradition arrangements with USA - all pretty one-sided, I would say. But, sorry, I don't buy into this "I was only looking for UFOs" stuff - that's the type of petty excuse you get with thieves who are caught casing the joint or found up to no good on your premises. Human rights, my foot. McKinnon is no dunderhead- anyone who breaks into the Pentagon, whether physically or electronically, knows exactly what they are doing, and McKinnon knew he was committing a crime. He has to go to USA because that is the extradition state of affairs that the UK Labour government put in place (well, you voted for that load of rubbish) - you commit a serious criminal violation in USA, you stand trial in USA. Surely it is in the US court that pleas for clemency, and mitigation should be taken into account. US courts are not kangaroo courts, and he's not going to face the death penalty. Why not appeal for a presidential pardon (now there's a dunderhead)?
What surprises me is that another Asperger's sufferer who managed to penetrate the Police Radio system, published the frequencies and call signs and was interviewed on Radio 4 was also arrested. However when he reoffends there's no charge because his Social Worker attends the police station and extricates him. That to me seems a fair way of dealing with such a situation as he does have constraints put upon him.
Involve the Americans and there's no duty of care to our citizens whatsoever. I suspect there's more than a little discrimination being set against Mr McKinnon. I also wonder what Alan Johnson would have done if Mr McKinnon was ethnically different? For instance we have foreign criminals serving their time for offences commited in Britain and of a greater magnitude who will never be deported to their home countries for no other reason that their Human Rights *might* be offended.
I'll bet Gary McKinnon has already had the punishment for his *nothing* crime with the despicable manner in which this country has treated him. America could do no worse than show some compassion, but of course we musn't offend the septics, must we?
There's one thing that America thrives on and that is taking on those less able to defend themselves.
So just what has America got over Britain's government that they let one of its citizens down in this manner?
If McKinnons' sole aim was to find out about UFOs why did he feel the need to change passwords on the systems he hacked into? I also wonder how many and who elses computers he's hacked prior to taking on the Pentagons, I may be alone (aside from Alan Johnson) but as far as I'm concerned he should be extradited and if found guilty given a harsh sentence as well.