British man in final legal challenge to avoid US extradition
The case of a British man who has been fighting extradition to the US on hacking charges for the past three years is due for judicial review.
The review is Gary McKinnon’s last chance of avoiding extradition after the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith disregarded his recent diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome as having any bearing on the case. McKinnon hopes to persuade the judge that this decision was unfair. With the failure of appeals to the House of Lords and the European Court of Human Rights earlier in 2008, McKinnon is resting his hopes on the oral review in chambers.
McKinnon, a Scot based in London, faces seven counts of hacking into 97 US Government, NASA and military systems during 2001 and 2002. When arrested in 2002, McKinnon quickly confessed his actions, but denies causing any damage, estimated by the US at $700,000. Whilst US prosecutors have suggested that McKinnon was mounting the ‘biggest military hack ever’, McKinnon himself maintains he was hunting for evidence about UFO encounters and harvested technology.
Derrick Cameron, Managing Director of IT business advisers Eximium has been following the case. “This is definitely McKinnon’s last stand,” he comments. “As his appeals so far have all failed, it doesn’t look good for the Scot. However, if the case does go to trial, the prosecution will have to prove that he had more sinister intentions – which could be difficult.”
If the review fails and McKinnon stands trial in the US, he faces a likely sentence of around 10 years imprisonment.
This entry was posted on Friday, January 30th, 2009 at 10:23 am and is filed under Business Advice, Data Security, IT Advice, News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
