NEWS: British hacker loses latest extradition appeal

LONDON: A British man accused of hacking into US military computers has failed in his latest bid to avoid extradition to the United States.

Gary McKinnon is charged with breaking into dozens of computers belonging to Nasa, the US Department of Defense and several branches of the US military soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. US prosecutors have spent seven years seeking his extradition.

McKinnon claims he was searching for evidence of alien life, although prosecutors say he left a message on an Army computer criticising US foreign policy.

Friday’s decision denies McKinnon the possibility of taking his case to Britain’s new Supreme Court — the latest in a series of blows to his campaign to remain in Britain.

Lord Justice Stanley Burnton said that extradition was “a lawful and proportionate response” to McKinnon’s alleged crimes.

McKinnon’s attorney, Karen Todner, said she was not giving up.

“The legal team are now considering our position and we will exhaust every avenue to prevent Gary’s extradition,” she said after the ruling.

McKinnon’s supporters argue that the 43-year-old is autistic and should not be put through the ordeal of a custodial sentence across the Atlantic.

His case has attracted significant attention in Britain, where it has served as touchstone for debate about the country’s fast-track extradition treaty with the United States — signed in the wake of Sept 11 — and wider US-British relations.

McKinnon’s mother, Janis Sharp, said that her government was too willing to send its citizens to the United States “as sacrificial lambs” to safeguard the pair’s “special political relationship.”

“To use my desperately vulnerable son in this way is despicable, immoral and devoid of humanity,” she said after the ruling.

Britain’s Home Office, which would ultimately be responsible for handling McKinnon’s extradition, said only that it had noted the decision. — AP