By Colin Barker, 12 December 2006 08:40
NEWS
After months of waiting, Gary McKinnon, the so-called 'Nasa hacker', has learned that his latest attempt to avoid extradition to the US will be heard in the High Court on 13 February, 2007.
McKinnon has been waiting for this date to be confirmed since last July when he lost his first appeal against extradition. The appeal court in that case judged that extradition to the US was justified, after which McKinnon was granted leave to appeal to a higher court.
If his second appeal on 13 February is not successful, McKinnon's only remaining avenue is to appeal to the House of Lords but he is not hopeful. "Look what happened to the NatWest Three," he said on Monday. "They had a lot of people behind them but they were still not given leave to appeal to the House of Lords."
McKinnon believes he has little chance of being successful at his hearing in the New Year. "I don't have much faith in this government to act independently [of the US]," he said.
The NatWest Three, also known as the Enron Three, were the first test case of the UK's new Extradition Act and were extradited to the US on 13 July. Theirs was the first case held under the act.
McKinnon has been fighting extradition since July last year. Unlike other famous UK hackers, McKinnon has never been convicted of an offence in the UK. He has admitted accessing US systems but maintains he never damaged any of the systems he entered. When first discovered, the UK authorities did not think his actions were serious enough to be worth prosecuting.
The US government has always maintained McKinnon's exploits caused millions of dollars worth of damage to a wide range of crucial defence systems.
The UK Extradition Act 2003 was rushed into law after the terrorist attacks of 11 September, 2001, and does not include a requirement for an extradition request from the US to contain prima facie evidence of the charges. The act has not been ratified by the US government, so while McKinnon is being extradited to the US under its terms, the UK government cannot extradite a US citizen to the UK.
silicon.com's Natasha Lomas contributed to this report
Colin Barker writes for ZDNet UK
Comments
There are 4 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
Yes he is guilty of the offence in question, but as usual the US (not unlike the UK government often does) appears to be occupying a very precarious perch on the high ground. Mckinnon used default passwords, so the systems weren't exactly secured. Maybe prosecutions should only be valid if basic steps have been taken to ensure security?
2. Nicholas Azazel
This is a typical UK lap dog approach pandering to the shouts of our US masters. Welcome to the 51st state of the morally perfect U S of A. Isn't is wonderful this 'special' relationship we have with the US. From my point of view the special relationship we have work like this. The US government shouts and the UK government bends over the table and assumes the position.
If the crime was committed on British soil then Mr McKinnon should be tried on British soil. I can't see him getting a fair trial in the US due to the paranoia that seems to be prevalent over there. The only way Mr McKinnon can win his case is if he has unlimited funds in his bank account.
3. NJ Cesar
I personally dont care about Mr McKinnon, what concerns me is that fact that we up hold a treaty that hasn't been ratified by the other side, surely for a contract to be lawful both sides have to sign? Typical of our government to sell us down the river without a care.
The government should grow a spine and tell the US if they want anymore British Citizens then they should ratify the treaty. Only then should we send Mr McKinnon over to be tried.
I doubt this will happen as our government seems to be at the beck and call of the US.
4. anonymous
Yeah, we do own you guys. :] Now settle down while we take your citizen away to be tortured, please.
I think it's funny how badly we own you, but I also think it's funny how easily you'd cough up one of your own citizens without a fight. LOL!! What a sad country you guys are. No offense. :x
Todd