By Jon Ashford Skip related content
Protestors against Gary McKinnon’s extradition demonstrated in Grosvenor Square today, just metres from the US embassy.
Among the attendees at the demonstration, organised by civil liberties campaigners Liberty, were Janis Sharp and Lucy Clarke, Mr Mckinnon’s mother and partner respectively.
They gave numerous interviews to the press and posed with protestors, who held paper aeroplanes made from pamphlets, detailing Mr McKinnon’s situation.
Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti, in a typically impassioned statement, criticised the government for making a ‘clear mistake’.
“This problem starts at home,” she told politics.co.uk.
“The US government continues to guarantee for its own citizens the right not to be parcelled off to other countries, to face trial without a case shown in a local court.
She described the impending extradition as a punishment in itself.
“You’ve got to understand that being taken from your home, your family, your lawyers and your friends and supporters, taken off to the other side of the world, to a place where you will be a stranger, where you will be a fugitive offender, where you will be locked up pending trial – that’s a punishment in itself.”
Read Article in Full:Â http://uk.news.yahoo.com/14/20090827/tpl-protestors-challenge-mckinnon-extrad-81c5b50.html
American Civil Liberties Union attacks David Miliband over UK/US extradition treaty
A US civil liberties group backed by a host of Hollywood celebrities has attacked the controversial extradition treaty which could see British computer hacker Gary McKinnon shipped to the United States on computer hacking charges.
By Christopher Hope, Whitehall Editor
Published: 2:47PM BST 27 Aug 2009
The news came as supporters of Mr McKinnon launched a campaign at the American Embassy in London to stop him being extradited to face charges of allegedly hacking into top security US Government computers.
Mr McKinnon will find out in a fortnight if he can challenge in the new British Supreme Court the decision by the Home Secretary to extradite him on the grounds of his right to a family life under the Human Rights Act.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which has been backed in the past by stars like Al Pacino and Martin Sheen, wrote to David Miliband, the foreign secretary, expressing its concern about extradition arrangements between Britain and America.
In the letter, Anthony Romero, the union’s executive director, complained that Britons were “exposed to the risk of ill-founded extradition requestsâ€.
Read Article in Full:Â http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/6099715/American-Civil-Liberties-Union-attacks-David-Miliband-over-UKUS-extradition-treaty.html
British Hacker’s Supporters Battle Extradition to U.S.
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, August 28, 2009
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LONDON, Aug. 27 — Supporters of autistic British computer hacker Gary McKinnon attempted to rally support on Thursday for the man who is fighting extradition to the United States to face federal charges in Virginia and New Jersey for penetrating dozens of U.S. government computers.
At the time, Paul J. McNulty, then U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, called it the “the biggest hack of military computers ever detected.” McKinnon was indicted in Alexandria and New Jersey in November 2002 on eight counts of computer fraud. He explained his actions by saying he was looking for UFOs. But he has yet to be brought to the United States.
Please Obama: Tears for Gary
The mother of a UFO enthusiast facing extradition to the US on charges of hacking into government computers has made an impassioned direct appeal to Barack Obama to intervene in the case.Â
The Pentagon accuses him of hacking into military computers in the aftermath of September 11th 2001 and deleting sensitive information, but Mr McKinnon, who suffers from Asperger syndrome says he was just looking for information on UFOs.
Days before the 43-year-old discovers whether a final UK-based appeal is successful, his mother Janis Sharp revealed he is feeling suicidal over the looming extradition and stateside trial.
“He took betablockers and said for the first time ever he had woken up for the first time without chest pains and he felt relaxed for the first time ever,” Ms Sharp said at a protest outside the US embassy in central London.
“But he’s stopped taking those because he’s worried about the side-effects.”Â
Gary McKinnon, the man accused by US prosecutors of “the biggest military hack of all time”, has suffered a severe deterioration in his mental health, according to his mother.
McKinnon, who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, was not faring well following a serious setback in court in July.
“He had a breakdown after the last court case,” Sharp told ZDNet UK at a protest outside the US embassy on Thursday. “He can’t look himself in the eye in the mirror.”
Wilson Sharp, McKinnon’s stepfather, said that the decision by two high court judges had deeply affected the self-confessed hacker.
“[Gary] took it really badly,” said Wilson Sharp. “He switched off his phones and the TV, wouldn’t speak to anyone, and was shouting at people. Most uncharacteristic. We were worried in case he did something stupid.”
Sharp said that the family had contacted autism expert professor Simon Baron Cohen, who had agreed to meet McKinnon, along with Jeremy Turk, an expert in autism and depression. The three met at McKinnon’s barristers’ chambers, where Turk had said that McKinnon was in the process of “detaching from himself”, according to Sharp.
Read Article in Full: http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10013635o-2000331828b,00.htm?new_comment
Alan Johnson is accused of a cover-up over Gary McKinnon’s legal battle
By James Slack and Michael Seamark
Last updated at 11:42 PM on 06th September 2009
Alan Johnson was last night accused of presiding over a cover-up after refusing to release crucial legal papers in the Gary McKinnon case.
The Home Secretary has repeatedly insisted that he is powerless to halt the extradition of the 43-year-old Asperger’s sufferer to the U.S., where he faces 60 years in jail for computer hacking.
But Mr Johnson’s officials have denied a request from the Daily Mail to release the legal advice on which this hugely controversial claim is based.
The officials admit there is a ‘public interest’ in the country having faith in the Home Secretary’s decision being based on ‘sound’ legal advice.
Read Article in Full:Â http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1211616/Alan-Johnson-accused-cover-Garys-legal-battle.html
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Home secretary set for McKinnon talks
Home secretary Alan Johnson is to meet with representatives of all three parties over the fate of computer hacker Gary McKinnon.
The Home Office confirmed to politics.co.uk the meeting would take place tomorrow.
Labour backbencher Michael Meacher, Tory civil liberties campaigner David Davis and Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne are believed to be attending the meeting.
A Home Office spokesman played down the meeting, saying Mr Johnson frequently met with MPs on matters which they wanted to raise with him.
But campaigners will be pinning their hopes on the meeting as a big opportunity to confront Mr Johnson with arguments against his predecessor’s decision to extradite Mr McKinnon to the US.
At a recent protest outside the US embassy Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti told politics.co.uk: “You’ve got to understand that being taken from your home, your family, your lawyers and your friends and supporters, taken off to the other side of the world, to a place where you will be a stranger, where you will be a fugitive offender, where you will be locked up pending trial – that’s a punishment in itself.
Read Article in Full:Â http://uk.news.yahoo.com/14/20090908/tpl-home-secretary-set-for-mckinnon-talk-81c5b50.html
Gary McKinnon: MPs step up political pressure on Alan Johnson to halt hacker’s extradition to US
A cross party group of MPs is attempting to apply fresh political pressure on the Home Secretary Alan Johnson to halt the extradition of the Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon.
By John Bingham
Published: 6:27PM BST 08 Sep 2009
A delegation of three Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat members will tell Mr Johnson in a meeting at the Home Office that he has the “power and the duty†to step in to prevent Mr McKinnon, who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism, being sent for trial in the United States.
David Davis, the former Shadow Home Secretary, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne and Michael Meacher, the former Labour minister, are joining forces to urge a rethink.
They will present Mr Johnson with a detailed legal opinion challenging the Government’s claim that it has no power to intervene in the extradition which has already been agreed by the courts.
Mr McKinnon is wanted for trial in the United States accused of breaking into sensitive military computer networks from his bedroom in north London eight years ago.
Mckinnon plea falls on deaf ears
11:14am Thursday 10th September 2009
LABOUR, CONSERVATIVE and Lib Dem MPs who argued the case for protecting Palmers Green hacker Gary McKinnon from extradition in the US have drawn a blank.
Michael Meacher, for Labour, former shadow Home Secretary David Davis and Liberal Democrat MP Chris Huhne had a 30 minute audience with Home Secretary Alan Johnson yesterday but were disappointed by his response.
The senior cross-party trio relayed arguments made by leading human rights lawyers concerned for the welfare of the 43-year-old Asperger’s sufferer if the planned extradition took place.
… Mr McKinnon is now waiting to hear if his legal battle will be taken on by the new Supreme Court which replaces the House of Lords as the highest appeal court in the UK and starts to hear cases from October 1.
Read Article in Full:Â http://www.enfieldindependent.co.uk/news/4590790.Mckinnon_plea_falls_on_deaf_ears/
Alan Johnson rebuffs MPs over McKinnon case
Author: Ian Grant
Posted 10 September 2009
MPs will seek a meeting with the new US ambassador after their attempts to have self-confessed hacker Gary McKinnon tried in the UK were rebuffed by the home secretary yesterday.
Michael Meacher (Labour), David Davis (Conservative) and Chris Huhne (Liberal Democrats) told home secretary Alan Johnson that he had the power to stop McKinnon’s extradition to the US.
McKinnon faces charges in the US that he hacked into 97 US Army, Navy, NASA and Defence Department computers immediately following the 9/11 attacks, left the military network vulnerable to intruders and caused thousands of dollars of damage.
According to Meacher’s blog, “(Johnson) confirmed – contrary to some reports – that it would not be illegal for him to block the extradition. But he made clear that in his view, after a string of court decisions at all levels over the last seven years, it would be very difficult for him to do so.”
A Home Office statement said, “It would be illegal for the Home Office to stop the extradition of Gary McKinnon, which the High Court ruling has made clear. Mr McKinnon is accused of serious crimes and the US has a lawful right to seek his extradition, as we do when we wish to prosecute people who break our laws.”
According to Meacher, Johnson said humans rights laws gave him the power to act only if there was evidence that the defendant could be subject to capital punishment, or that he might be transferred to a third country, or that he might be tried on a different charge from that being alleged.
At an earlier hearing by the Law Lords, it emerged that FBI investigators had threatened to see McKinnon “fry” unless he signed a plea bargain deal. McKinnon, who suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome, an autistic condition, told Computer Weekly at the time that he believed they meant to electrocute him.
Read Article in Full: http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/09/10/237651/alan-johnson-rebuffs-mps-over-mckinnon-case.htm
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MPs take McKinnon fight to US ambassador
Published: 10 Sep 2009 16:16 BST
Three senior British politicians are taking their campaign for Nasa hacker Gary McKinnon to the American ambassador in London.
Labour MP Michael Meacher, Conservative David Davis and Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne are planning to send a letter to US ambassador Louis Susman asking for an audience to discuss the case, a spokesman for Meacher said.
The cross-party group of politicians is pushing for the US to end its extradition proceedings against McKinnon on human-rights grounds.
…McKinnon’s legal team has applied to the High Court for leave to appeal its July decision to the Supreme Court. The judges’ decision on this application is due to be handed down on 14 September.
If the application is unsuccessful, McKinnon’s lawyers have said they will apply to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Read Article in Full: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39746753,00.htm
 Pentagon computer hacker Gary McKinnon seeks Supreme Court appeal
British man who broke into US defence computer system waits to hear if his case will be heard by highest court
Gary McKinnon, the computer hacker with Asperger’s syndrome who broke into the Pentagon’s computer systems in his search for proof of UFOs, is likely to discover this week whether his appeal against extradition to the US will be heard by the UK’s highest court.
His legal team claim the new supreme court of England and Wales must hear the appeal under the European convention on human rights. They argue that because the court has agreed to hear an appeal against extradition to the US brought by Ian Norris, a businessman who has prostate cancer, that ruling should apply to their client.
Read Article in Full:Â http://u.tv/News/Pentagon-computer-hacker-Gary-McKinnon-seeks-Supreme-Court-appeal/afefe423-aaad-4aa6-adc1-22adbc35f998
Articles
Updates(Includes New Petition): Gary McKinnon Loses Appeal Against Extradition To The U.S.”:
http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/gary_mckinnon_loses_appeal_against_extradition_to_the_us.htm