[Closed] Gary McKinnon extradition to US blocked

Very good!

Superb, finally a sensible extradition judgement!

Damn straight, cant believe this has been going on so long. Hope this means Gary n his mum can live in a bit more peace now.

Now go get a job with MI6 😉

Very good news. Hopefully the UK government will have the balls to scrap the massively US biased extradition agreement in favour of something balanced.

While the extradition and charges by the US were way way over the top, I don't think that means he should get off scot free. He has committed crimes and they need to be addressed, hopefully that can now be done in a rational manner.

Mrs May said: "After careful consideration of all of the relevant material I have concluded that Mr McKinnon's extradition would rise to such a high risk of him ending his life that a decision to extradite would be incompatible with Mr McKinnon's human rights. I have therefore withdrawn the extradition order against Mr McKinnon."

I applaud the decision however should someone's likelihood to commit suicide prevent them from standing trial?

I'm sure the yanks could have lobotomised him and put him in chains to keep him alive. I also find it interesting that we'll happily extradite other people to the US despite concerns about human rights violations but not this fella.

Pleased, but cynical about the motives to be honest. Seems like a PR exercise.

If he'd been sent to the states, they would have treated him like a terrorist without any sensible consideration the context of his actions. So v good news.

Good decision
It was criminal for sure but the fella needs help and support rather than criminalising and he is not a terrorist
Odd reasoning as it was not good enough for Old hook hand

Nice to push this through after Ahmad and Ahsan, who were in a similar situation, have been safely extradited.

I applaud the decision however should someone's likelihood to commit suicide prevent them from standing trial?

I think that has been overplayed massively by the media. I would not see it as a valid excuse not to be extradited on its own but as he has aspergers he deserves extra consideration and a bit of bloody human compassion. I mean he hasn't done anything too bad, its not like he brought about a world recession, hes not killed hundreds and thousands in an illegal war, hes not defrauded an electorate but he has shown the US gov't and their computer defence system to be a load of rubbish. I think thats why america want to put him on trial so badly, because he made them look stupid. The US should be thankful it was a decent lad who hacked em and didnt do owt malicious rather than a terrorist or millitant group who could have really f'ed em up.

I don't know why we even entertained the US request.

When they have handed over all the US citizens that funded the killing of innocent men women and children on UK soil by the IRA/PIRA, AND all those US serviceman for which there is an outstanding European arrest warrant, AND when they have overturned their refusal to recognise the United Nation World Court (and their conviction by the court, in doing so becoming an outlaw country) THEN, maybe, we'll talk about Gary.

I think thats why america want to put him on trial so badly, because he made them look stupid.

Wow, if they use that as a basis for prosecution their courts are going to be busy!

They shouldn't be jailing him, they should be giving him a job.

Why do you think the US is so interested in Assange? He made them look stupid too.

Sensible decision by May. Get him off to GCHQ!

I don't know why we even entertained the US request.

Because according to the law he committed a crime. That's what extradition is for. Had he done this to, say, the Finnish, we'd never have heard about his extradition because people would, rightly, assume the Finns wouldn't lock him up for life for this. The fact the US Government couldn't be trusted to give him a fair trial is why people have been objecting I think.

Or are people objecting because we think crimes that "aren't really all that bad in the scale of things" shouldn't be treated the same?

EDIT- ignore my ignorance.

As I understand it, he admitted to his crimes straight away when questioned by UK police, and he has not tried to 'evade justice' but be tried in the UK rather than the US. There are precedents for this apparently.

US Gvt: Are you going to extradite Gary Mckinnon then?
UK Gvt: Er, no. Thinking of giving him a job actually. How bout Abu Hamza instead?
US Gvt: ok then.

Wasn't his hack quite "basic" in nature? I think he just scanned for completely unprotected computers at Military sites using some widely available port-scanning software. If anyone needs prosecuting its whoever is in charge of IT security at the US military.

Yes it was basic - if he really knew what he was doing, then he'd cover his tracks substantially better.

Port scanning the US Gov, from your mum's basement isn't exactly genius material.

Condoleeeeeza Rice denied extraordinary rendition took place - then defended it as lawful when it came out that she had lied.

Even though the US asserts sovereignty over Guantanamo, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp is considered outside U.S. legal jurisdiction by the US - so they detain without sentence (in violation of the basic habeas corpus rights underlying all proper criminal legal systems) and have admitted torture (unlawful under the Geneva Convention).

Call that true democracy and a safe legal system/govenance? Lying, false imprisoning, torturing, hyprocritical scumbags.

IF he only scanned for unprotected ports on US military sites, then certainly the US is an arse for letting that happen. Also he would almost certainly not receive a fair trial.

People like this should be supported with his aspergers and or talents as at the end of the day there appears to have been no malice.

Agree with TuckerUK, hate the US although I work for a huge American company. When did they become the world police as it appears one rule for them and a completely different set for everyone else.

He probably scanned to find suitable targets, and then used something like metasploit to do the exploitation of the systems.

Exploitation to gain elevated access to find evidence of aliens... not bring down their computer networks.

The US government has committed more crimes against humanity than any other government and has breached there own constitution regularly.

As soon as they are ready to accept that the people of the US and the rest of the world have a right to justice and the truth about their actions, then they can ask for justice from the rest of the world.

Wikileaks has shown us just how utterly deranged they truly are, as if the way they treat their own people wasn't enough!

....I work for a huge American company. When did they become the world police as it appears one rule for them and a completely different set for everyone else.

Seems true where I work, unless the chinese whispers are exaggerated.