Asperger's
\nSyndrome<\/a>, a fact that was not available and hence not taken into account by
\neither the district judge or the High Court when they reached their decisions in
\nfavour of his extradition. <\/p>\nSarah Ludford, McKinnon's constituency MEP, and I have written to the home
\nsecretary Jacqui Smith urging her to use her discretion to agree or refuse an
\nextradition request. <\/p>\n
The news that Gary McKinnon has been diagnosed with
\nAsperger's Syndrome should surely justify a more humanitarian approach.
\nAccording to the Asperger's Syndrome Foundation, the condition is characterised
\nby difficulties with social interaction and communication. A pattern of
\nbehaviour includes a lack of empathy, impaired imagination, difficulty in making
\nfriends, intense absorption in a special interest and often problems with motor
\ncoordination. <\/p>\n
It can often result in frustration, anger, depression and a lack of
\nself-esteem. In these circumstances, it would be oppressive to extradite him
\nwithout \u2013 at the very least \u2013 undertakings from the US authorities as to his
\ntreatment.<\/p>\n
The two-and-a-half year gap between McKinnon's arrest and the
\nUS extradition request also raises serious questions about the plea-bargaining
\nprocess that took place in the intervening period. McKinnon could have done what
\nthe US wanted and pleaded guilty and waived his statutory extradition rights in
\nexchange for a more lenient sentence and repatriation for sentence. <\/p>\n
The result of this voluntary surrender might have been a three to four-year
\nsentence for non-terrorist offences and speedy repatriation to the UK. However,
\nMcKinnon chose to exercise his right to resist extradition. As a result, he is
\nfaced with a possible 45-60 year prison sentence without parole for terrorism
\nand no repatriation. He has effectively been blackmailed by the US authorities
\nto plead guilty.<\/p>\n
Having exercised these rights, the US authorities are
\nnow categorising McKinnon's behaviour as (cyber-)terrorism. There is a real risk
\nof him being detained, both pre-trial and in the event of a conviction, for a
\nlong time in a "Supermax" high-security prison. Such detention is hardly
\nsuitable for a computer hacker with no previous criminal history and whose
\npotential as a future risk must be seriously questioned. <\/p>\n
These coercive
\ntactics must surely be contrary to the tenets of any fair legal system, and
\namount to an abuse of extradition. The High Court rightly described the threat
\nof withholding repatriation if McKinnon refused to surrender as "anathema", and
\nviewed the way the US authorities conducted plea bargaining with McKinnon in
\nLondon with "distaste". <\/p>\n
This coercive plea bargaining is an abuse of our
\njudicial process. At the very least, Jacqui Smith should seek clarification from
\nthe US authorities as to the availability of pretrial bail for McKinnon. If she
\nhad real confidence in British justice she would go further and demand that
\nMcKinnon stand trial in this country and, if convicted, serve any term of
\ndetention in a British prison.<\/p>\n
This issue, however, is not just about
\nGary McKinnon. No extraditions of British citizens should be granted until the
\nforum amendments of the Police & Justice Act are enacted, which would allow
\nMcKinnon and others to be tried over here. The government could have enacted
\nthese provisions in November 2007 but still shows no sign of bringing them into
\nforce. <\/p>\n
Express assurances should also be obtained from requesting
\ncountries of immediate post-trial\/sentencing repatriation to the UK. This is in
\naccordance with the principles of the European Treaty on transfer of prisoners
\n(to which the US is a signatory). Jacqui Smith must not let our special
\nrelationship with the US override the best interests of justice.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/exopolitics.blogs.com\/exopolitics\/2008\/11\/uk-guardian-extradition-of-ufo-researcher-gary-mckinnon-cruel-unusual-punishment.html<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}