Computer Hacker McKinnon Will Not Be Extradition

Home Sectrary Theresa May has decided that computer hacker Gary McKinnon will not be extradited to the United States, citing human right grounds.

She said that there was such a high risk of McKinnon, 46, who has Asperger's syndrome and suffers from depressive illness, ending his life that it was incompatible with his human rights.

The the extradition order against McKinnon has been withdrawn and it will now be for the director of public prosecutions to decide whether he should be prosecuted in Britain for hacking into US military computers more than 10 years ago.

Mr McKinnon had been fighting extradition since 2006. He admits accessing US government computers but claims he was looking for evidence of UFOs.

The 46-year-old, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, could face 60 years in jail if convicted in the US.

May also went on to announce that while she found the much-criticised US-UK extradition to be "broadly sound", she would introduce a "forum bar" which will give a British court the power to bar prosecution overseas if it believes it would be fairer for the accused to face a British trial.

However she added that she intended to scrap the very home secretary's discretion on human rights grounds that enabled her to halt McKinnon's extradition. "Matters such as representations on human rights grounds should, in future, be considered by the high court rather than the home secretary," she told MPs. "This change, which will significantly reduce delays in certain cases, will require primary legislation."

She also opened the door for more wide-ranging reform of the extradition process to reduce the delays of up to 14 years by looking again at the provision of legal aid for terror suspects in national security cases and introducing a permission stage for appeals to UK courts.

(H)