Wouldn’t you prefer a nice game of chess? British ‘UFO Hacker’ Gary McKinnon has lost his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights against his extradition to the United States, which will now most likely occur in the next two weeks:
His solicitor Karen Todner said this had been her client’s “last chance” and appealed to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to intervene. “He is absolutely devastated by the decision,” she said. “He and his family are distraught.
“They are completely beside themselves. He is terrified by the prospect of going to America.” She added Mr McKinnon had recently been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and would ask for the case to be tried in this country.
“The offences for which our client’s extradition is sought were committed on British soil and we maintain that any prosecution ought to be carried out by the appropriate British authorities,” she added. “Our client now faces the prospect of prosecution and imprisonment thousands of miles away from his family in a country in which he has never set foot.”
Mr McKinnon, from Wood Green, north London, was arrested in 2002 but never charged in the UK.
For more detailed examination of this case, see my post from a few weeks back here on TDG, which includes links to the full text of the House of Lords judgement.
