News - Computer hacker Gary McKinnon avoids US extradition

[HEXUS]

Fears for his health and wellbeing helped his case.

Read more.

[Jimbo75]

It's high time th extradition treaty we have with the US is revised. In fact we should not even have extradition treaties with nations that admit to torturing prisoners.

[3930k]

It's high time th extradition treaty we have with the US is revised. In fact we should not even have extradition treaties with nations that admit to torturing prisoners.

This.

[Saracen]

In an interview with the BBC, a former White House legal advisor, David Rivkin, called the decision by Mrs May “laughable” and said that anyone could claim they might commit suicide and therefore escape prosecution and imprisonment.

What's laughable is that reaction.

What Theresa May said is that Gary McKinnon has Asbergers and depressive illness, and that his condition is such that she blocks extradition, not that anyone with Asberger's and depression would qualify for the same. She said, very clearly, that she has taken independent medical and legal advice, on top of that of several other clinicians, and that the extent of his condition is such that he cannot be extradited.

It is also the case that he has not yet, as Rivkin put it, "escaped prosecution", let alone imprisonment. The former is now for the DPP to determine, on the basis of UK law and prosecutorial guidelines, and the latter is for a court.

Rather than "former" White House advisers shooting their mouth off, and pouting when the Almighty US of A doesn't get it's own way, maybe the pompous numpty would like to consider that, just as the US will not extradite without due reference to their own laws, neither can our politicians. They must follow UK law, even when they don't like it, as with Hamza (and have you forgotten that one, only a week or so ago, Rivkin), or they themselves end up in our courts. May is acting in a quasi-judicial role, and she can and quite possibly would be held to account for her decision in the courts, had she decided to allow the extradition given the medical evidence she has.

[Saracen]

Are you happy that Gary McKinnon has escaped extradition?

Personally, neither happy nor unhappy, for the simple reason that I don't have access to all the medical evidence, and such decisions must be evidence-based.

In the absence of genuine medical grounds, I think he should have been extradited. What I don't know, in the absence of that advice, is whether the experts consider that reason enough for blocking extradition. I'm forced to conclude that if May blocked it, it was good enough, so he should not have been extradited.

[ZaO]

this man's not a bad guy. screw them. the usa rulers are criminals and so are ours.

[Fraz]

Good. Even though I utterly despise Theresa May (she's an evil, hateful witch, frankly), I'm glad that at least someone in the country is capable of saying no to the US.

And as Saracen points out, the US commentator is clearly a total moron, assuming he wasn't misquoted.

Also, I wonder how much 10 years of dealing with this case has cost the UK taxpayer? Why does it take so long to say no to the US? I expect they've caused us far more expense than the $566,000 in damages that McKinnon apparently caused...

[aidanjt]

And as Saracen points out, the US commentator is clearly a total moron, assuming he wasn't misquoted.

That's the normal level of intelligence applied to USia political discourse.

[digitiliad]

It's high time the extradition treaty we have with the US is revised. In fact we should not even have extradition treaties with nations that admit to torturing prisoners.

I'm an American and I agree wholeheartedly with this. Treatment of criminals - foreign or domestic, proven guilty or not - has reached an unacceptable low in my country and I would urge other nations to take a hard look at their policies with the US in light of this fact.

[snootyjim]

I wouldn't mind if I didn't think May did it for political capital.

Why is it that every court permitted the extradition, and the Labour government gave the go ahead, and then all of a sudden the Tories come in and decide to stop the whole thing and start again. It's hard to know for sure without all of us seeing the facts, but we do know that those same facts were good enough under the previous government. I'm sure some will just bundle it up into a convenient "blame Labour" lump, but I don't buy it. It was one of May's first acts as Home Secretary to reevaluate everything, and I don't doubt for a second that it's because it was an unpopular decision.

[tenshin111]

I am happy about this decision because this is one of rare occurrences of the UK government not following orders from Washington. I don' think any other country in the EU is normally so willing to give out their citizens to the "american justice". It IS time to re-negotiate that treaty which is basically an act of submission not a fair deal.

Whether Theresa May did this for political capital or not, I don't care. At least this guy has been spared a life-long "vacation" in the greatest democracy in the world(TM). I wouldn't care if he was a serial killer or a real terrorist but whatever he did - did not harm anyone as far as I know so I don't see reason for extradition anyway.

[kalniel]

So are Hexus readers now in favour of the Human Rights act and its use to block extradition etc.? I could have sworn that not so long ago people were calling for it to be abolished..

[Geoff I]

So are Hexus readers now in favour of the Human Rights act and its use to block extradition etc.? I could have sworn that not so long ago people were calling for it to be abolished..

The European law of human rights screws our courts up left right and centre, if we did not have to abide to that it would be a different story and our country would be better off financially.

What Gary did was illegal in the eyes of the US, not only did he break in to there computers but he left messages in there, personally I think he should be brought to justice in this country, yes he might not be a bad person but there have to be boundary's.

[BobF64]

What Gary did was illegal in the eyes of the US, not only did he break in to there computers but he left messages in there, personally I think he should be brought to justice in this country, yes he might not be a bad person but there have to be boundary's.

Its illegal in the UK too, we just decided not to bother.

Perhaps now we will rethink this and give him a nice spell in a psychiatric hospital, since hes so unbalanced and a risk to himself.

[Smudger]

I think we possibly didn't bother because the Americans got first dibs. Maybe now they will put him to trial in our courts...

[davesom555]

Also, I wonder how someone with an autistic spectrum disorder would cope in a high security American prison? Surely that would be against their human rights, putting them in that sort of environment. UK prisons, so I hear, are much more civilised.