{"id":949,"date":"2009-10-09T18:06:51","date_gmt":"2009-10-09T18:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/2009\/10\/09\/uk-guardian-ufoet-researcher-gary-mckinnon-loses-fight-to-stand-trial-in-uk\/"},"modified":"2009-10-09T18:06:51","modified_gmt":"2009-10-09T18:06:51","slug":"uk-guardian-ufoet-researcher-gary-mckinnon-loses-fight-to-stand-trial-in-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/uk-guardian-ufoet-researcher-gary-mckinnon-loses-fight-to-stand-trial-in-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Guardian: UFO\/ET researcher Gary McKinnon loses fight to stand trial in UK"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"guardian-logo\">\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\" name=\"&amp;lid={headerBranding}{Guardian}&amp;lpos={headerBranding}{1}\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\" name=\"&amp;lid={headerBranding}{Guardian}&amp;lpos={headerBranding}{1}\"><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"box\">\n<div id=\"article-header\">\n<div id=\"main-article-info\">\n<h1>\n<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h1>Computer hacker Gary McKinnon loses fight to stand trial in UK<\/h1>\n<p class=\"stand-first-alone\" id=\"stand-first\">McKinnon refused supreme court appeal against extradition to US on charges of breaking into military networks<\/p>\n<div id=\"content\">\n<ul class=\"article-attributes\">\n<li class=\"byline\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/profile\/alexandratopping\" name=\"&amp;lid={contentTypeByline}{Alexandra Topping}&amp;lpos={contentTypeByline}{1}\">Alexandra Topping<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"publication\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/\" name=\"&amp;lid={contentTypeByline}{guardian.co.uk}&amp;lpos={contentTypeByline}{2}\">guardian.co.uk<\/a>,<br \/>\nFriday 9 October 2009 11.32 BST\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"resize\">\n<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/help\/accessibility\" id=\"smaller-sidebar\" style=\"display: inline;\" title=\"Decrease text size\"><\/a>\t\t<\/li>\n<li class=\"history\"><a class=\"rollover historylink\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/world\/2009\/oct\/09\/hacker-gary-mckinnon-supreme-court-extradition\/print#history-byline\" id=\"historylink-byline\">Article history<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"article-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"image\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gary McKinnon\" height=\"276\" src=\"http:\/\/static.guim.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2009\/7\/16\/1247747191795\/Gary-McKinnon-001.jpg\" width=\"460\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">Gary<br \/>\nMcKinnon has lost his fight to stand trial in the UK on charges of<br \/>\nhacking into US military networks. Photograph: Sang Tan\/AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Computer hacker <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/world\/gary-mckinnon\">Gary McKinnon<\/a> lost his long battle to stand trial in the UK today when he was refused permission to appeal to the supreme court against <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/world\/extradition\">extradition<\/a> to the US on charges of breaking into the Pentagon&#39;s military networks.<\/p>\n<p>The<br \/>\ncourt decided the case did not raise &quot;points of law of general public<br \/>\nimportance&quot;, which are neccessary if a case is to be pursued at the<br \/>\nhigher level.<\/p>\n<p>The decision extinguishes McKinnon&#39;s legal options<br \/>\nin the UK, but his lawyers said they would now consider applying to the<br \/>\nEuropean court of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/world\/human-rights\">human rights<\/a> in Strasbourg.<\/p>\n<p>Giving<br \/>\nthe court&#39;s decision, Lord Justice Stanley Burnton, who heard<br \/>\nMcKinnon&#39;s latest appeal earlier this year with Mr Justice Wilkie, said<br \/>\nextradition was &quot;a lawful and proportionate response&quot; to his alleged<br \/>\noffending.<\/p>\n<p>He said McKinnon would be unlikely to succeed with his<br \/>\nclaim that extradition would breach his right to a private and family<br \/>\nlife, under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights.<\/p>\n<p>Nor<br \/>\ndid the court think that extradition to the US would be a breach of his<br \/>\nright not to be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment under<br \/>\nArticle 3.<\/p>\n<p>McKinnon&#39;s mother, Janis Sharp, said the decision was &quot;devoid of humanity&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;No<br \/>\nother country in the world would so readily offer its citizens to the<br \/>\nUS as sacrificial lambs merely to safeguard a &#39;special political<br \/>\nrelationship&#39;.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;To use my desperately vulnerable son in this way is despicable, immoral and devoid of humanity.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>McKinnon&#39;s<br \/>\nsolicitor, Karen Todner, said the trial was having a &quot;devastating&quot;<br \/>\neffect on the 43-year-old&#39;s health. &quot;He is a highly vulnerable man in a<br \/>\nvery fragile state and this is a huge blow to him and his family,&quot; she<br \/>\nsaid.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Why is our government so inhumane as to allow this to<br \/>\nhappen to someone, particularly someone with Asperger&#39;s, a form of<br \/>\nautism? This is the wholesale destruction and bullying of a small<br \/>\nindividual by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/world\/usa\">United States<\/a> and now our own government.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Our extradition treaty with the US is unfair and prejudicial to UK citizens and should be repealed or amended immediately.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Todner said every further avenue, including the European court, would be explored.<\/p>\n<p>Sabina<br \/>\nFrediani, campaigns co-ordinator for Liberty, which supported<br \/>\nMcKinnon&#39;s case, said: &quot;Never were justice and the law so out of sync<br \/>\nas in the case of Britain&#39;s rotten extradition arrangements. People up<br \/>\nand down the country are rightly horrified by the way that a vulnerable<br \/>\nman has been sold down the river when he should have been protected and<br \/>\ntried here at home.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>She said Liberty would support any appeal to<br \/>\nthe European court and would work to ensure parliament &quot;faces up to its<br \/>\nresponsibilities to amend the act&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>McKinnon&#39;s lawyers and supporters argue his hacking was aimed at nothing more than searching for reports of UFO sightings.<\/p>\n<p>McKinnon,<br \/>\nfrom Wood Green, north London, had challenged Home Office decisions<br \/>\nallowing his extradition to go ahead and the refusal of Keir Starmer<br \/>\nQC, the director of public prosecutions, to put him on trial in the UK<br \/>\non charges of computer misuse. He failed in his high court bid to avoid<br \/>\nextradition in July.<\/p>\n<p>The Home Office said no further comment would be made while McKinnon continued to pursue the legal avenues available to him.<\/p>\n<p>A<br \/>\nspokesman said: &quot;We note today&#39;s judgement. The case remains before the<br \/>\ncourts. Therefore, we do not propose to comment further at this stage.&quot;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<ul id=\"copyright-links\">\n<li>guardian.co.uk \u00a9 Guardian News and Media Limited 2009<\/li>\n<li>http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/world\/2009\/oct\/09\/hacker-gary-mckinnon-supreme-court-extradition\/print<\/li>\n<\/ul>\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-949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949","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=949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}