Terry Waite supports Gary McKinnon

The BBC reports that Terry Waite has come out in support of Gary McKinnon.

'Drop hacker case' - Terry Waite

Human rights campaigner and former hostage Terry Waite has called on the US to drop charges against British computer hacker Gary McKinnon.

[...]
Mr Waite, a hostage in Lebanon for four years, called the motives "harmless" and said "common sense" was needed.

He said the Pentagon ought to thank the self-confessed hacker for "exposing" the vulnerability of its computer security.

Mr Waite said Mr McKinnon's illness, a form of autism, made him "irrationally obsessive" and added that it was a waste of time to pursue him.

"No nation under the sun ought to convict an individual whose behaviour is occasioned by illness," he said.

"Gary is clearly a very clever chap.

"He has that unique ability to find his way through the internet jungle and enter the inner recesses of the Pentagon. Full marks for his ingenuity.

"Was Gary a spy? Was he attempting to bring down the mighty military force of the USA? As far as I know he was not. He was simply looking for little green men.

"Anyone who has the slightest acquaintance with [Asperger's Syndrome] will know that while the sufferer can be, and indeed often is, brilliant in certain logical processes they can become irrationally obsessive in other directions."

However, Mr Waite - who was kidnapped in Lebanon in 1987 - said he supported the efforts of the authorities to "track down and stop illegal activity" on the web.

Mr McKinnon's lawyers have appealed for him to be prosecuted in the UK on lesser charges, but the CPS said the best place for the case to be heard was the US.

[...]

Other eminent people who have come out in support of Gary McKinnon's right to be tried in the United Kingdom, rather than being extradited to the USA, include the UK Government's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Lord Carlile of Berriew:

The Guardian: Terror law watchdog Lord Carlile joins clamour for accused hacker to be tried in UK instead of US