UFO hacker Gary McKinnonmay be at
risk of suicide if he isextradited to the US, but the risks
were not great enough tokeep him in the UKon humanitarian
grounds, the High Court ruled today.
Lord Justice Stanley Burnton and Justice Wilkie dismissed claims
by McKinnon's lawyers that legal moves to extradite him to the US
would breach his rights under Article 3 of
the Human
Rights Act - which prohibits torture, inhuman and degrading
treatment.
McKinnon would find extradition, trial and imprisonment in the
US "very difficult indeed," the judgement concluded. "His mental
health will suffer. There are risks of worse, including suicide.
But... his case does not approach Article 3 severity."
McKinnon and his supporters said they were deeply frustrated and
angry at the judgement. Karen Todner, McKinnon's solicitor, said it
was an affront to British justice that someone as clearly
vulnerable as McKinnon could be extradited.
Precedent held that Article 3 could be breached if the country
where someone was extradited was likely to actively subject someone
to torture, or inhumane or degrading treatment, the court said.
But it was harder to argue that conditions in another country
were so poor that it would have so severe an effect on someone's
ill health.
McKinnon - The
trials and tribulations on
Dipity.
The US had given compelling assurances that McKinnon's medical
reports would be considered not only by his jailors but also by the
US courts. He would undergo further psychological assessment and
would be given support comparable to that he would get in a British
jail and justice system.
Evidence presented by the
National Autistic Society that "suicide and self harm
can be associated with the [psychological] disorder"
demonstrated how uncertain were the risks to McKinnon's health, the
court concluded.
Legal precedent would only allow the court to intervene if the
risks to McKinnon's health were real and not merely more than
"fanciful".
McKinnon sought a UK prosecution in the hope that it
would prevent his extradition. But the court judged that the
Director of Public prosecutions should be left to decide whether to
prosecute McKinnon.
The DPP had decided that a UK prosecution was not possible, so
US prosecutors should be trusted to get on with it.
The court gave McKinnon leave to appeal its judgement before the
House of Lords. There was room to consider further the question of
mental health under Article 3 of the ECHR.
The courts said it would also consider giving leave to appeal
under Article 8, which gives someone the right to a family
life.
Janis Sharp,
McKinnon's mother, condemned the law for judging it "fair to
destroy someone's life in this way".