Better late than never

By Stephen Tall | Mon 26th October 2009 - 8:20 pm

Some positive news today in the fight for justice for Gary McKinnon, the Asperger’s sufferer and alleged computer hacker who is facing extradition to the USA, a fate which it is believed could jeopardise his health:

The Home Secretary confirmed today that he had “stopped the clock” on proceedings to extradite the British alleged hacker Gary McKinnon to the United States. Alan Johnson told MPs that he was examining new medical evidence in the case, and would allow Mr McKinnon’s lawyers more time to consider medical reports and make legal representations.

Mr McKinnon, from North London, is wanted by US prosecutors for what they have called the “biggest military computer hack of all time”. They claim that he hacked into 97 military computers and caused £487,000 of damage. The 43-year-old, who has Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism, says that he was looking for reports of UFO sightings.

Good on Alan Johnson,who runs the risk of losing the title held by every single Home Secretary in the last 12 years of being the ‘most authoritarian Home Secretary since the last one’. (In fact it’s hard to recall the last genuinely liberal home secretary, at least after Roy Jenkins in the mid-’70s – perhaps Douglas Hurd?)

Many politicians across the party divides have been pressing Gary Mckinnon’s case – you can read about how Nick Clegg, Simon Hughes and Alex Carlile have been doing so on behalf of the Lib Dems here.

4 Comments

Sesenco 26th Oct '09 - 8:54pm

Until about a week ago, it looked as if Johnson was afflicted by a strange anatomical defect associated with, but by no means exclusive to, Blairite hacks – the absence of a spine. His recent fumblings, however, suggest that it is just possible that he possesses a very, very dangerous and subversive thing in international politics – a conscience. Let’s hope so.

Careful, Alan. One word from Washington, and you’re gone.
ColinW 27th Oct '09 - 10:36am

Should all else fail, my advice to Gary McKinnon would be to seriuosly assault – perhaps a bit of stabbing – the US ‘justice’ department minions before they drag him onto the plane. That will definitely stop his extradition.
Robson 27th Oct '09 - 2:58pm

Ah but has he really “stopped the clock” or just responded to signals from Washington? Does Obama’s new reined-in and cauterised CIA and FBI have less of an appetite to pursue a deeply unpopular extradition of a mentally ill man?
Huw Dawson 27th Oct '09 - 5:18pm

Hey, I’m not mentally ill… :\ I’d call Aspergers a “mental oddity” personally – at least in my case. I’ve not read up on the McKinnon case in a while so I’m not sure how he displays his Aspergers.

One Trackback

By Huhne slams “shameful” Johnson: “stop being an American poodle and start being a British bulldog” on Fri 27th November 2009 at 10:21 am.

[...] Just a month ago, it looked like Mr Johnson had had a change of heart. It’s now clear he has no heart to change. [...]

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