Free Gary McKinnon

The Daily Telegraph reports:

Gary McKinnon wins judicial review of extradition decision

A High Court judge will rule on whether Alan Johnson was wrong to allow the extradition of computer hacker Gary McKinnon after his lawyers were granted permission for judicial review.

Published: 4:18PM GMT 13 Jan 2010

Mr McKinnon's lawyer, Karen Todner, said she was ''delighted'' by the decision. A hearing is likely to take place in April or May with a judge to rule on whether the Home Secretary was right to decide that sending him to the US for trial would not breach his human rights.

[...]

She said in a statement: ''I am delighted that the High Court has agreed to grant permission for the judicial review of Alan Johnson's decision to extradite Gary McKinnon.

''However, that is countered by the very poor mental state of Mr McKinnon due to the ongoing pressure of these proceedings.

''I would urge Mr Johnson to review his decision and I appeal to President Obama to withdraw the application for extradition. Mr McKinnon's suffering has gone on long enough.''

[...]

Since Judgments may take several weeks or months to be published, the outcome of this Judicial Review is very likely to be after the forthcoming General Election, and over 8 years since Gary was first arrested.

We hope that you will all ask your election candidates to publicly state exactly what they would do with the Gary McKinnon case, or with future extradition cases to the USA which could be tried here in the UK, if they became Home Secretary after the next election, and then to vote accordingly.

This Parliamentary Written Question , by Andrew MacKinlay MP, one of the senior Members of Parliament who attended the demonstration in support of Gary McKinnon at the Home Office, is interesting:

HC Deb, 7 January 2010, c518W

Extradition: USA
Home Department

Written answers and statements, 7 January 2010

Andrew MacKinlay (Thurrock, Labour)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his duty to assess the appropriateness of extraditing persons to the US in relation to health grounds applies (a) at the time of the receipt of the US application, (b) at the time of proceedings in the UK and (c) at the time immediately before the extradition takes place; and if he will make a statement.

Meg Hillier (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Hackney South & Shoreditch, Labour)

holding answer 6 January 2010

In the scheme of the Extradition Act 2003, it falls to the courts to determine whether health factors raise a barrier to a person's extradition. However, the Home Secretary has an implied power to withdraw an extradition order where, exceptionally, a new matter arises subsequent to the completion of all proceedings under the Act but before extradition takes place. The basis for this implied power is section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998, which renders it unlawful for the Home Secretary, as a public authority, to act in a way which is incompatible with a Convention right.

Presumably this Parliamentary Written Answer is the latest considered view of the Home Office's legal advisors.

This rather contradicts Home Secretary Alan Johnson's earlier testimony in front of the Home Affairs Select Committee, where he did his Pontius Pilate like shrugging of shoulders, claiming that he had no power to intervene and stop the extradition of Gary McKinnon to the USA.

Text GARY to 65000 to join petition

Two major online campaigns - a text petition and the "Chicago" song download - are being launched this week demonstrating continued, and widespread, public opposition to the extradition of Gary McKinnon.

Time is running out for Gary as he nears the end of legal challenges in the UK courts.

The text petition, spearheaded by Janis Sharp, Gary's mum, and key supporters, urges voters to text "Gary" to 65000, by way of demonstrating their support. Evidence of petitioner numbers will be sent on a regular basis to the Home Secretary, as well as to the Conservative & Lib Dem Shadow Home Secretaries in this, an election year.

The ambition is two-fold, first to give voters an opportunity to directly manifest their frustration at a lack of protection for vulnerable UK citizens such as Gary, and second to encourage the main political parties to reform our imbalanced extradition arrangements as part of their manifesto pledges.

Meanwhile via a Facebook and Twitter campaign, Janis is asking Gary's supporters to download the song "Chicago" recorded last year, with and for, Gary, by international musicians David Gilmour, Bob Geldof and Chrissie Hynde.

Janis said:

"The support and compassion shown by members of the public has been a tremendous boost during our 8 year fight to ensure Gary faces justice in the UK.

"I hope this text campaign helps stir the Government from its stupor of inactivity which is simply fuelling the public's sense of outrage at the unnecessary cruelty of the situation.

"Gordon Brown wrung his hands over the execution of a mentally ill British drugs carrier in China. Yet he and his government remain complicit in the US authorities' hounding of my vulnerable son, despite knowing that, for Gary, extradition amounts to nothing less than a death sentence, given his growing mental instability.

"Why can't the UK just ask our supposedly strongest ally, President Obama, to show clemency towards Gary by cancelling the extradition request and allowing a UK prosecution?

"Sending a text takes seconds. Intervening takes moments. Gary has lived in anguish for years.

"As for the music campaign, I hope President Obama will listen to the reworded version of "Chicago" which is a direct plea to him. If he personally learns of Gary's plight perhaps he may show compassion of his own accord, and allow my son to be tried in Britain."

Last month, Gary's legal team filed an application for judicial review of the Home Secretary's most recent decision not to halt extradition despite overwhelmingly compelling evidence of Gary's mental deterioration, and expert warnings of the onset of psychosis and probable suicide that his extradition would trigger. The courts are still considering this Judicial Review application.

The SMS text message "GARY" to the (UK only) short code 65000 will be charged at normal UK network rates.

You well get a reply e.g.

Thx 4 ur support 4 Gary McKinnon. Pls ask mates 2 txt GARY to 65000. Stop his extradition b4 2 late. We will petition ur support to politicians.
Thx.

Hopefully this will put some more pressure on the UK Government, on behalf of Gary McKinnon, and all the other people who are at risk from the unequal and unjust UK / USA extradition laws and political.expediency at the expense of vulnerable individuals and British sovereignty..

Down load the "Chicago / Change the World" protest song

The song Chicago/Change The World,originally by Graham Nash, now performed by Chrissie Hynde / David Gilmour / Bob Geldof / Gary McKinnon, is available to download via:

• ITunes - http://bit.ly/91zDBd

• Amazon - http://bit.ly/7Qwb7p

• HMV - http://bit.ly/8GUepd
  

Prices currently range from 69p - 99p

Eminent Supporters

The Campaign to halt Gary's extradition has been supported by a growing number of people as well as organisations such as the National Autistic Society and Liberty.

There is regular support for Gary on Twitter and multiple Facebook groups and web forums. Online polls consistently show that the public do not believe he should be extradited.

He is also backed by a wide number of cross-party politicians:

David Cameron MP, Nick Clegg MP, Chris Grayling MP, Chris Huhne MP, James Brokenshire MP, David Burrowes MP, Mayor Boris Johnson, Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP, Keith Vaz MP, Charles Kennedy MP, Sir Menzies Campbell MP, Kate Hoey MP, David Blunkett MP, Andrew MacKinley MP, Lord Carlile QC, Vince Cable MP, Simon Hughes MP, Norman Baker MP Tim Loughton MP, Peter Kilfoyle MP, Lord Morris of Manchester, Lord Clement-Jones of Clapham, Alan Simpson MP, Tom Watson MP, among others

and other high profile individuals:

Sarah Brown, Trudie Styler, Sting, David Gilmour, Julie Christie, Peter Gabriel, Keith Duffey, Emma Nobel, Terry Waite CBE, Tony Benn, Nick Hornby, Barry Norman, Jilly Cooper, Trevor Baylis, Dr Dawn Heather, Professor Baron-Cohen, Nadine Stavonina, Peter Howson, Dr. Liz Nelson OBE, Richard Madeley, Jonathan Ross, Stephen Fry and Duncan Bannatyne.

Some photos of the Demonstration in support of Gary McKinnon at the Home Office on Tuesday 15th December 2009

Many of you will recognise the eight senior Members of Parliament, from across the party political spectrum, who attended this demonstration in solidarity with Gary McKinnon and his family, friends and supporters.

How much longer will the Labour government Ministers, and the Home Office senior civil servants, continue to impose their ill thought out, Kafkaesque, Extradition and Computer Misuse legislation and policies, both on Gary McKinnon, and on all of the rest us in the United Kingdom ?

From left to right:

Lucy Clarke - (Gary McKinnon's girlfriend)

Andrew Mackinlay MP (Thurrock) (Lab)

Chris Huhne MP (Eastliegh) (Lib Dem) - the Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary.

Janis Sharp (Gary McKinnon's mother).

David Burrowes MP (Enfield, Southgate) (Con) - Conservative Party Shadow Minister for Justice, who is also Gary McKinnon's constituency MP.

Chris Huhne MP (Eastliegh) (Lib Dem) - the Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary.

Rt. Hon. Nick Clegg MP (Lib Dem) (Sheffield - Hallam) - Leader of the Liberal Democrat party.

Janis Sharp (Gary McKinnon's mother).

David Burrowes MP (Enfield, Southgate) (Con) - Conservative Party Shadow Minister for Justice

Andrew Mackinlay MP (Thurrock) (Lab)

Janis Sharp (Gary McKinnon's mother)

Rt. Hon. Keith Vaz MP (Leicester East) (Lab), Chairman of the House of Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs.

Janis Sharp (Gary McKinnon's mother)

Kate Hoey MP (Vauxhall) (Lab) wearing the red scarf.

David Burrowes MP (Enfield, Southgate) (Con) - Conservative Party Shadow Minister for Justice

Andrew Mackinlay MP (Thurrock) (Lab)

Lucy Clarke (Gary's girlfriend) and Rt. Hon. Keith Vaz MP (Leicester East) (Lab), Chairman of the House of Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs. [picture credit: BedfordRed]

Rt. Hon. Nick Clegg MP (Lib Dem) (Sheffield - Hallam) - Leader of the Liberal Democrat party.

Janis Sharp (Gary McKinnon's mother)

David Burrowes MP (Enfield, Southgate) (Con) - Conservative Party Shadow Minister for Justice

Other politicians in attendance included:

Alistair Carmichael MP (Orkney & Shetlands) (Lib Dem)

CouncillorCouncillor Daisy Benson< (Lib Dem) (Greater Reading).

A young demonstrator from Belgium in support of Gary McKinnon.

Janis writes that this boy

had come over from Brussels with his parents for the day specifically for the Demo. It was his Birthday and he asked his parents to take him to London to demonstrate for Gary. All of the demonstrators sang Happy Birthday to him.

Janis Sharp (Gary McKinnon's mother) presents some flowers and a Letter to Her Majesty QUeen Elizabeth, at Buckingham Palace.

Janis writes:

The police on duty were really nice. After the Demo they walked up to the Palace with a crowd of us and the Palace police took me into the foyer of the palace with my flowers and letter for the Queen. The Palace police also took lots of flowers from other people presenting flowers and letters for Gary.

UPDATE 09 December 2009

It appears that the Metropolitan Police are intimidating the organisers, with the threat of arrest under unspecified laws, into not holding a peaceful demonstration at Buckingham Palace.

UPDATE 10th December 2009:

We have been passed an email from Inspector Emma Richards from the Metropolitan Police Royal Parks Operational Command Unit (who could have emailed info@freegary.org.uk directly) which clarifies under which law they are banning the Buckingham Palace demonstration in support of Gary McKinnon:

Statutory Instrument 1997 No. 1639 The Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces Regulations 1997 section 17, which says:

(17) organise or take part in any assembly, display, performance, representation, parade, procession, review or theatrical event;

These words do not actually cover a short term "static political demonstration" or a "plea for mercy".The regulations are to do with commercial exploitation of all of the Royal Parks, and road traffic speed limits etc.

Inspector Richards went on to say:

I am concerned that the wording implies that the Metropolitan Police is against your demonstration/cause. A detrimental comment has been made on the website and I am keen to stop this escalating. The reason for the refusal is due to the legislation.

That is exactly the impression which the Metropolitan Police Service at Charing Cross Police Station, who dealt with the SOCPA 2005 section 132 -138 Designated Area prior written application for the Home office demonstration gave, by failing to clearly communicate about this regulation in the first place, but instead, talking disproportionately and inappropriately about "terrorism".

There will be now be another peaceful demonstration in support of Gary McKinnon, at the Home Office in Marsham Street, London, this coming Tuesday 15th December 2009 from 12 noon until 2pm and from 2pm onwards at Buckingham Palace.

Media Contact details:

email us here at info@Freegary.org.uk. If you are IT security conscious, and technically capable, then you can make use of our PGP Public encryption key.

We will pass on your messages to the demonstration organisers and spokespeople, or try to answer your queries ourselves.

Home Office

Will Home Secretary Alan Johnson and his senior civil servant advisors at the Home Office get the message from the British public, and manage to get themselves out of the political mess which they have created, over the Extradition Act 2003 and the Gary McKinnon extradition case ?

Time:
Tuesday 15th December 2009 from 12 noon until 2pm

Location:
Home Office main entrance, Peel Building (between the defensive / ornamental moats ponds) , Marsham Street, Westminster, London - see this location map

Nearest Tube stations:
Westminster or St. James Park - see the Transport for London website for journey planning details.

Buses:
London Bus Route 88 Clapham Common - Vauxhall - Westminster - Oxford Circus - Camden Town, stops directly outside the Home Office main entrance in Marsham Street, supposedly every 7 or 8 minutes.

Public toilets:

There is a Westminster Council run public toilet quite close to the Home Office in Regency Place:-- turn right along Horseferry Road at the southern end of Marsham Street.

See Regency Place public toilet location map

SOCPA 2005 s 132 Designated Area

The Home Office is, inappropriately, just within the Designated Area around Parliament Square, so the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 sections 132 to 138 apply. The organisers have already applied for the necessary prior written permission.

Loudspeakers and loudhailers are banned, but, given the volume of the chanting at the previous demonstrations, these would probably be superfluous anyway.

The Metropolitan Police can impose arbitrary extra conditions, at the time of the demonstration, but, hopefully, if things go as per the previous demonstrations at the Home Office, there should be no problems.

Buckingham Palace

There will also be a demonstration at Buckingham Palace at the western end of The Mall, London, next Tuesday 15th December 2009 from 2pm onwards

Will Her Majesty the Queen be able to influence her stubborn Labour Government to treat Gary McKinnon with mercy, and not allow him to be extradited to the USA, but to be tried here in the United Kingdom ?

Time:
Tuesday 15th December 2009 from 2pm onwards

Location:
Buckingham Palace, The Mall, London SW1 1AA

Location Map of Buckingham Palace

Nearest Tube stations:
Victoria (and mainline railway), Green Park, Hyde Park Corner or St. James's Park - see the Transport for London website for journey planning details.

Buses:
There are lots of buses which stop near Buckingham Palace e.g. Routes 2, 16, 36, 38, 52, 73, 82, 148, 436, 701, C2, 702, 797, X90

See London Bus Routes

Public toilets:

There are no Westminster Council run public toilets near Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace is a SOCPA 2005 section 128 Protected SIte

Buckingham Palace is not within the Serious Organised Crime Act 2005 section 132 - 138 Designated Area around Parliament Square.

However, it is a Protected Site under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 section 128 Offence of trespassing on protected site, (previously a Designated Site until the Terrorism Act 2006 amendment which changed the word "designated" to "protected").

Statutory Instrument 2007 No. 930 The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (Designated Sites under Section 128) Order 2007 designates:

(b) Buckingham Palace, the Mall, London, SW1A 1AA and its curtilage, including the buildings within that curtilage;

The curtilage means the outer walls and fences and gates of the site.

You can be arrested, but only by a constable in uniform not by Police Community Support Officers or by other security staff or military personnel on guard at Buckingham Palace,if you cross the gates, fences or walls of this outer boundary of the site. You would then face up to 51 weeks in prison and / or a level 5 fine (up to £5000).

Writing to Her Majesty The Queen

Contact Members of the Royal Family

In advance of the demonstration, you could write to Her Majesty the Queen, in support of Gary McKinnon:

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Buckingham Palace
London SW1A 1AA

Start your letter formally to "Your Majesty".

More hints and tips about going on a demonstration in this part of central London:

Home Secretary Alan Johnson faced numerous MPs in the debate in the Chamber of the House of Commons

Commons Hansard 1 Dec 2009 : Column 975 Gary McKinnon (Extradition)

Gary McKinnon (Extradition)

3.34 pm

Mr. David Burrowes (Enfield, Southgate) (Con) (Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his decision not to intervene to stop Gary McKinnon's extradition to the United States.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for allowing this urgent question on behalf of my constituent.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Alan Johnson): Gary McKinnon is accused of serious criminal offences. He is alleged to have repeatedly hacked into US Government computer networks over a period of 13 months, including 97 US military computers from which he deleted vital operating systems and then copied encrypted information on to his own computer, shutting down the entire US army's military district of Washington's computer network for 24 hours. During interviews under caution, Mr. McKinnon admitted to much of the conduct he is accused of.

A great deal has been made of the perceived imbalance in UK-US extradition arrangements in respect of probable cause versus reasonable suspicion. While I am clear that no such imbalance exists, as Mr. McKinnon has admitted the conduct which has given rise to the extradition request, this issue is academic in his case. This aside, under the terms of the Extradition Act 2003, I can prevent an extradition only in very specific circumstances: where the person in question could be sentenced to death if convicted; where there is a chance of that person being tried for crimes committed before that extradition which were not specified in the extradition request; or where the person has previously been extradited to the UK from another country, or transferred here by the International Criminal Court, and no consent has been given to their being extradited elsewhere.

Outside of the statutory extradition scheme, the courts have made it clear that the only circumstances in which I could prevent extradition would be where the evidence demonstrates that extradition would be a breach of human rights. If it would breach human rights to proceed with extradition, I would have to halt proceedings. If it would not, it would be unlawful for me to do so.

Mr. McKinnon has challenged his extradition in the district court, the High Court, with the Law Lords, and in the European Court of Human Rights, all of whom have ruled that the extradition should go ahead. Following the diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome in August 2008, he made fresh representations to the then Home Secretary claiming that because of his medical condition his extradition would breach the European convention on human rights. The then Home Secretary decided in October 2008 that the evidence Mr. McKinnon submitted did not meet the threshold needed to constitute a breach of the ECHR. Mr. McKinnon challenged in the High Court this decision and the decision by the Crown Prosecution Service that there were no grounds for him to be tried in this country.

On 31 July 2009, the High Court handed down both judgments. In its judgment on the Director of Public Prosecution's decision that Mr. McKinnon should be tried in the US, Lord Justice Stanley Burnton said this:

"It is true that the Claimant's offending conduct took place in this country. However, it was directed at the USA, and at computers in the USA; the information he accessed or could have accessed was US information; its confidentiality and sensitivity were American; and any damage that was inflicted was in the USA. The witnesses who can address the damage done by his offences are in America...

Gary McKinnon is not indicted in the USA on anything to do with the alleged "confidentiality and snoensitivity" of any information he may have gleaned. There are espionage allegations, only unsubstantiated claims of financial damage, not involving the theft of any money or goods.

If ,as he alleges, there were plenty of other hackers from around the world invading the same systems at the same time, then half the crucial witnesses and evidence such as United Kingdom Internet Service provider logfiles and the computer he used, are here in the UK, not in the USA. These may or may not prove that Gary was involved with one of the 97 systems at a particular time, but none of that prima facie evidence has been tested in any court, despite all the Extradition hearings and appeals.

Some of it would have been cross examined under the old extradition Act 1989, which was in force when Gary was arrested in 2002., but the retrospectively applied Extradition Act 2003 has prevented that.

However, it is not for this Court to decide where he should be prosecuted. The decision is that of the DPP. As appears from the preceding paragraphs of this judgment, he cannot be faulted for considering that, other things being equal, the Claimant should be prosecuted in the USA."

He expressed the view that it would be

"manifestly unsatisfactory in the extreme"

for Mr. McKinnon to be tried in the UK and refused permission for this aspect to be judicially reviewed.

Secondly, the Court ruled on 31 July that the decision of the Home Secretary that the extradition of Gary McKinnon to the US would not amount to a breach of his human rights was also correct. The Lord Justice said:

"Ultimately, I have to weigh the impressive medical evidence adduced by the Claimant against the severity involved in Article 3. I have no doubt that he will find extradition to, and trial and sentence and detention in the USA, very difficult indeed. His mental health will suffer. There are risks of worse, including suicide. But if I compare his condition with those considered in the authorities to which I have referred above, even taking full account of the (in my view undesirable) possibility of his being prosecuted in this country, his case does not approach Article 3 severity."

Following that decision, Mr. McKinnon's lawyers made fresh representations, including additional medical evidence. I have carefully considered those representations and I am clear that the information that his lawyers have provided is not materially different from that placed before the High Court earlier this year and does not demonstrate that sending Mr. McKinnon to the United States would breach his human rights.

There are legitimate concerns about Mr. McKinnon's health, and the United States authorities have provided assurances, which were before the High Court in July, that his needs will be met. It is also clear from the proceedings to date that there is no real risk that Mr. McKinnon, if convicted, will serve any of his sentence in a supermax prison. Should Mr. McKinnon be extradited, charged and convicted in the US and seek repatriation to the UK to serve his sentence in this country, the Government will progress his application at the very earliest opportunity.

As I have said at every stage of these proceedings, we will not commence extradition proceedings until all legal avenues that Mr. McKinnon wishes to pursue have been exhausted. He can lodge a judicial review within seven days of this decision, and he can appeal to the ECHR within 14 days of the same date. I am currently considering a request from Mr. McKinnon's lawyers for an extension of the seven-day time limit.

Apart from Rob Marris (Wolverhampton, South-West) (Lab), who can always be relied on to give his Labour front bench an easy, albeit tangential question, not a single one of the MPs who debated this Statement supported Alan Johnson.

These included:

Mr. David Burrowes (Enfield, Southgate) (Con)
Damian Green (Ashford) (Con)
Chris Huhne (Eastleigh) (LD)

Mr. Speaker: Order. No fewer than 23 Members are seeking to catch my eye. Naturally, I am keen to accommodate as many as a reasonable allocation of time will allow, but I appeal to each right hon. and hon. Member to ask a single, short supplementary question and, of course, to the Home Secretary to provide an economical reply.

Liz Blackman (Erewash) (Lab)
Angela Browning (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con)
Keith Vaz (Leicester, East) (Lab)
Mrs. Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) (Con)
Kate Hoey (Vauxhall) (Lab)
Mr. John Randall (Uxbridge) (Con
Mark Lazarowicz (Edinburgh, North and Leith) (Lab/Co-op)
Sir Menzies Campbell (North-East Fife) (LD)
Andrew Mackinlay (Thurrock) (Lab)
Mr. Douglas Hogg (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con)
Mr. Tom Watson (West Bromwich, East) (Lab)
David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden) (Con)
Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)
Mr. Crispin Blunt (Reigate) (Con)
Mrs. Iris Robinson (Strangford) (DUP)
Jeremy Corbyn (Islington, North) (Lab)
John Mason (Glasgow, East) (SNP)
Mr. Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)

Labour government Home Secretary Alan Johnson appears to be trying to wash his hands of Gary McKinnon:

The Daily Telegraph reports:

Gary McKinnon set to be sent to America after Alan Johnson says he cannot block extradition

Exclusive: Gary McKinnon is set to be sent to America to answer computer hacking charges after Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, told his family that he could not block his extradition on medical grounds.

By Christopher Hope and Andrew Porter
Published: 6:45PM GMT 26 Nov 2009

Mr McKinnon's family were notified of the Home Secretary's decision this afternoon. Janis Sharp, Mr McKinnon's mother, was distraught, telling The Daily Telegraph: "I can't believe it. It is a complete nonsense."

Last month Mr Johnson threw a lifeline to Mr McKinnon, who suffers from a form of autism, with a promise to examine new medical evidence "very carefully" before deciding on his extradition last month.

However in an emailed letter to Mrs Sharp, Mr Johnson is understood to have said that a decision to block the extraditon of Mr McKinnon was not in his control.

However, as Alan Johnson himself mentioned in front of the Home Affairs Committee, there may well be another attempt by Gary McKinnon's legal team to interest the European Court of Human Rights in this case

[...]

Mr McKinnon's lawyers can either seek a fresh emergency judicial review of Mr Johnson's decision at the High Court within the next seven days or appeal to the European Court of Human Rights within the next 14 days.

[...]

Tonight, Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, said:

".... Finally, should Mr McKinnon be extradited, charged and convicted in the US and seek repatriation to the UK to serve a custodial sentence, the Government will of course progress his application at the very earliest opportunity.

[...]

"I know there is a concern on all sides to see a conclusion to these proceedings. It is now open to Mr McKinnon's lawyer to consider their legal options. As a consequence I do not propose to comment any further."

Note Johnson's use of the words "the Government will of course progress his application at the very earliest opportunity", trying to pretend that he somehow cares for Gary or his family, friends or supporters.

His final words imply that the case is again sub judice, but they are just as likely to be an excuse to avoid answering any questions about his own handling of the case, before the forthcoming General Election.

The Daily Mail reports on the letter from the House of Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs, which has an inbuilt Labour government majority, and is chaired by the former Labour Minister Keith Vaz:

You CAN save Gary McKinnon: MPs' bombshell letter explodes Home Secretary's claim that law makes him powerless to halt extradition

By James Slack and Michael Seamark
Last updated at 1:13 AM on 13th November 2009

Alan Johnson was last night told by a powerful group of MPs that he can and must halt the extradition of Gary McKinnon.

In a devastating letter, the Home Affairs Select Committee flatly rejected Mr Johnson's claim that he is powerless to intervene.

[...]

The letter from Mr Vaz - a former minister - to the Home Secretary says: 'We received a clear legal opinion... that the scope for the exercise of discretion by the Home Secretary is greater than you believe.

'Because of Mr McKinnon's precarious state of mental health, the Committee is of the view that he should not be extradited to the U.S.A. and you should exercise your discretion in this case.'

[...]

Liberal Democrat spokesman Chris Huhne said: 'The Home Affairs Select Committee is telling Alan Johnson what he has already been told and what he should have known.

'It is not in the interests of justice to send a British citizen with mental health problems to face decades in an American jail.

'The Home Secretary must put an end to this shameful episode and then renegotiate the extradition treaty so this fiasco is not repeated.'

The evidence the Mail obtained from human rights QC Tim Owen and Julian Knowles, a leading extradition lawyer, categorically stated: 'The Extradition Act 2003 gives the English courts the primary responsibility - but, importantly, not the exclusive responsibility - for ensuring that... safeguards are maintained. This is because both the courts and the Home Secretary have a role to play in extradition.

'It is therefore plain that the Home Secretary has the power - and indeed the duty - to intervene in any extradition case even after the court process has ended if the evidence establishes that there is a real risk of a human rights breach should extradition proceed.

'Statements made to the contrary by the Government are obviously and plainly wrong.'

Lord Carlile, Mr Johnson's adviser on terror laws, has also said he is satisfied that the minister does have the power.

He said placing Gary at the mercy of the U.S. courts would be 'disproportionate, unnecessary and unconscionable'.

Why is it so hard for this Labour government to admit that they are wrong ?

Last night, a Home Office spokesman said: 'The Home Secretary has maintained throughout the proceedings that he has no general discretion to refuse extradition. At this stage in the case the sole issue is whether extradition would, or would not, breach Mr McKinnon's human rights.

'Unless the evidence shows that extradition would breach the European Convention on Human Rights it would be unlawful to refuse extradition.'

The Daily Telegraph reports about the depressing performance of Home Secretary Alan Johnson at the House of Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs oral evidence session on extradition:

Gary McKinnon's mother in tears after snub from Alan Johnson

The mother of Gary McKinnon, the internet hacker fighting extradition to the United States, broke down in tears yesterday after Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, allegedly refused to talk to her.

By Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent
Published: 6:50PM GMT 10 Nov 2009

During a break in a hearing before a House of Commons committee, Janis Sharp attempted to discuss her son's case with Mr Johnson, who shook her hand but walked on in silence.

Earlier, Mrs Sharp had given moving evidence in which she told MPs that the 43-year-old autism sufferer would rather die than be extradited to the United States.

[...]

Presumably this was witnessed by the journalists reporting on this Select Committee session, but the Home Office spin doctors seem to be pushing a different version of the encounter.

It was alleged that Mr Johnson "snubbed" Mrs Sharp during the hearing on Tuesday, but a Home Office spokesman has denied the claim.

"It is not true that the Home Secretary walked pass Mrs Sharpe in silence.

[...]

When Mr Johnson appeared before the committee, however, he said that he had no discretion over the extradition process, and was merely considering the new medical evidence while Mr McKinnon's lawyers considered whether to refer his case to the European Court in Strasbourg.

[...]

The House of Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs, chaired by Keith Vaz MP, is

The Daily Telegraph reports:

Alan Johnson to be grilled by MPs over his decision to extradite Gary McKinnon

Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, is set to be questioned publicly by an all-party committee of MPs over his decision to extradite computer hacker Gary McKinnon to America.

By Christopher Hope, Whitehall Editor
Published: 7:00AM BST 20 Oct 2009

[....]

The Daily Telegraph has learned that the Commons' home affairs select committee is planning to a special session to examine how the treaty has been used by prosecutors, and whether the home secretary should be given discretion to try cases in the UK.

The MPs will also want to examine why US lawyers need only demonstrate "reasonable suspicion" for an extradition warrant to be granted in Britain. There is no reciprocal agreement for the Crown Prosecution Service in America.

Witnesses to be called to give evidence include Mr Johnson, the Home Secretary, and the family of Mr McKinnon, who suffers from autism, sources said.

Keith Vaz MP, the committee's chairman, said: "When considering this Treaty, the principal of reciprocity has long been contentious. I support calls for a review of this treaty in order to get the best deal for UK citizens.

"The case of Gary McKinnon highlights the difficulties in the current extradition relationship between the UK and the US. It is clear that the US got a better deal from the Extradition Treaty.

"The Treaty needs to allow Ministerial discretion in exceptional circumstances such as the case of Gary McKinnon.

"Ministers should always be able to intervene in these circumstances. The Home Affairs Committee will be looking at this issue in the future."

Separately Conservative peers will today seek to amend the legislation by attaching amendment to the Policing and Crime Bill which would allow prosecutors to bring charges in the UK if the crime was committed here.

David Burrowes, the shadow justice minster and Mr McKinnon's MP, said: "This is a good opportunity for Parliament to provide a degree of fairness and justice to the extradition arrangements, and help people like Gary to have justice in this country."

[...]

This seriousness of the legal implications of this case, not just for Gary McKinnon, but for all the rest of us as well, is illustrated by just how much of a mainstream Westminster political hot potato it has become.