This case has been in the news recently, and I was just wondering if anybody else was as disgusted by it as I am?

For those not familiar with the case Gary McKinnon is a 43 year-old UFO buff from Wood Green in London. He suffers from Aspergers syndrome, a type of Autism, as well as depression. In 2002 Mr McKinnon is alleged to have hacked into 97 American military and NASA computers to see if they had evidence of the existence of UFOs, causing damage that the US military says amounts to $700,000.

Our Government, in their pandering to the schoolyard bullies are willing to extradite a mentally ill man to face charges, despite experts warning against it every step of the way. The latest health report published by Mr McKinnons doctor warns that if he is extradited, there is an extreme probability of suicide. This, is my eyes is tantamount to a death sentence, further more, it will be a death sentence that is likely to be executed before anybody is found guilty of any crime. However, the real irony here is that if Mr McKinnon were actually facing a death sentence from the American courts, he would not legally be allowed to be extradited.

Now I can't say that Mr McKinnon does not need to face some kind of reprisal for his actions, but the consequences of extradition are far in excess of whatever punishment should really be forthcoming. Though what he did was wrong, he did not have any malicious intent, and it exposed holes in a system that should have been secure. Suppose that a terrorist organisation had that kind of access to those files?
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Vidi Vici Veni

I got in touch with my feminine side. She emailed me back saying if I ever contacted her again she'd call the police.

Yes, well said! The way this is being handled is miserable, cruel and humiliating. The poor guy needs help, not a kafka-esque trial. I think there’s a petition online somewhere

http://freegary.org.uk/

A Home Office spokesman said: 'The Home Secretary has maintained throughout the proceedings that he has no general discretion to refuse extradition. At this stage in the case the sole issue is whether extradition would, or would not, breach Mr McKinnon's human rights. Unless the evidence shows that extradition would breach the European Convention on Human Rights it would be unlawful to refuse extradition.'

If that’s the case, which it ins’t,

('The Extradition Act 2003 gives the English courts the primary responsibility - but, importantly, not the exclusive responsibility - for ensuring that... safeguards are maintained. This is because both the courts and the Home Secretary have a role to play in extradition.” QC Tim Owen and Julian Knowles, a leading extradition lawyer, categorically stated)

Then the European Convention on Human Rights needs immediate updating – to protect vulnerable individuals who are ravaged by profound mental illness from cruel and unsual punishments in a foreign country.

One conclusion to draw is; are the US top brass seriously convinced UFO’S exist as well? ...So indeed "whysoserious"
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"The tighter you grasp Lord Vader, the more it will slip through your fingers."

double posts...
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"The tighter you grasp Lord Vader, the more it will slip through your fingers."

In the UK, simple rules apply: He's a white British christian person, so he has no rights and the British gov't can do whatever they want to him. Any other race, religion or colour and he would have had a ton of support from every civil rights group in the country.

Unfortunately, that's the way the law has become in this country now, the only people not protected by law are the ones that first created the laws. The dregs of this society have more rights now than the decent law abiding people. Whoever said crime doesn't pay? Those who break minor laws or do things without realising the severity of it like this guy are penalised.

hmmm really? It doesn’t matter if he's a she, mentally ill or well, black or white, Christian or Muslim.

Rest assured, the US government would pursue this case in the same relentless manner rather than discriminating ; it's this indiscrimination in which it seeks severe one-size fits all punishment which is the issue.

I've no idea if he's Christian; an obsession in UFO's would suggest he's into more marginal, if similarly outlandish gobbledygook. If he was Christian, I'm sure that massed & cohesive group of Anglicans, Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, Elims etc, etc, etc, would be arm in arm campaingning for his release. White Christian British? Better of harnessing the latent powers of X Factor voters, and outlet shoppers

The case is, he's this wierd guy, an outsider getting shafted - despite commiting on the face of it a serious crime, due to a offbeam 'harmless' obession.
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"The tighter you grasp Lord Vader, the more it will slip through your fingers."

The Extradition Act 2003 has been retrospectively applied to this case. Due to the remote cybercrime/terrorism on US government systems. He CAN be whisked away.

But hey, maybe he'll end up working on spacecraft like the Nazi, Wernher von Braun?

The obsessive aquistition of coding skills to hack high-end US systems from the twilight in Scotland, and poor mental health are not in anyway exclusive to each other, I would have thought. And as mentioned up top he is diagnosed with aspergers syndrome...they have obssesive focus, and often great skills in a very particualar area - to the detriment of self care
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"The tighter you grasp Lord Vader, the more it will slip through your fingers."

Can I play the devil's advocate here?

97 systems sounds more like a systematic approach to whatever he was doing.
There were many different US government departments.
In one case - they say - he left 300 computers useless.
They would view that one case - rightly in my opinion - as a threat to their ability to respond to any danger they might face. They would view what he did (as a whole) as a threat to their national security.
They would also be wondering what had been done during those visits, or undone, or left waiting to happen, or stolen. How could they know?

He says this was about UFOs. Who can say?
He could have been doing it for another reason, unrelated to UFOs. Th UFO story being a 'best fit' cover-story for his activies.
He was diagnosed last year as suffering from Aspergers syndrome. It seems to me - at 40+ years of age - to be a retro-fit 'best fit' for what has happened.
Since this has been going on for a number of years, it's most likely his drepression is related to the case.

Just as with any crime, the only way to ensure a healthy respect for the law is to show that the criminals will be caught and punished.
He's been caught.
His people say he'll get 70 years.
The US say he could get 2 years - if he co-operates.

The stakes have been raised at each stage: now it's suicide watch. 'Save Gary's life.'

But - here's a question - why should they put a concern for this one man's health above a concern for the health of all the people in their country?
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Give me golf clubs, fresh air and a beautiful partner, and you can keep the clubs and the fresh air.
(Jack Benny)

I don't think that anybody ever could advocate him getting away with what he did scot free, that wouldn't be right, and it'd show once again that criminals do go unpunished for their crimes.
My problem is that the extradition is almost certainly a death sentence, which is totally out of keeping for the crime. Though he would only be sentenced to serve time in jail, he is very likely to commit suicide.
What I would like to see, and I don't know how possible it is, is for him to be tried via video link, all the time staying in this country, and for him to serve his sentence in this country. Though there is probably no precedent for this type of thing, the whole infrastructure is there for it to happen. A little co-operation and common on both sides of the atlantic could have saved a lot of money and a lot of stress for all parties involved.
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Vidi Vici Veni

I got in touch with my feminine side. She emailed me back saying if I ever contacted her again she'd call the police.

Whatever the rights/wrongs of his extradition very pathetic and stupid to argue he shouldn't be sent because he will attempt to commit suicide in prison. If that is the concern, that is an argument for better conditions for his custody or proper supervision & care, not not placing him in custody. If that were a legitimate argument then Fred West, Harold Shipman & a myriad of others should never have been punished with a custodial sentence.

The cases are completely different, and it could also be argued that in those cases death was very much an appropriate sentence. But that is still skirting the main issue. I don't believe that anybody would advocate him getting no punishment at all. Trying him here in the uk is a feasible option, and would greatly reduce the risk of suicide. The setting up of a temporary court in a us embassy is even a possible option.
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Vidi Vici Veni

I got in touch with my feminine side. She emailed me back saying if I ever contacted her again she'd call the police.