Hacker McKinnon can challenge US extradition

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Admitted hacker Gary McKinnon finally achieved a victory in his long fight against extradition to the US, as he was granted a judicial review to challenge his case in the High Court.

The new ruling means that the computer hacker can stay in the UK while the challenge is made. His lawyers and supporters have argued that McKinnon’s Asperger’s Syndrome puts him at risk of suicide or psychosis if he is extradited to the US.

McKinnon has been accused of hacking military computers in 2001. He admitted the charge of hacking, but he denied that he did it maliciously or caused the amount of damage the US authorities are claiming.

As well as the High Court challenge, McKinnon’s lawyers also sent a letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer QC asking if he can be tried under UK law for his crime. A reply will be sent in four weeks.

According to the BBC, McKinnon’s mother Janis Sharp said: “We are overjoyed that the British Courts have shown sense and compassion by allowing our son Gary, a young man with Asperger’s syndrome, this judicial review.

“We have always been outraged by the Home Office’s decision to have him extradited to stand trial in a foreign land where he would face an out-of-proportion sentence to what is essentially a crime of eccentricity.”

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