Quote Originally Posted by CitizenCain View Post
Could one of you Brits kindly explain this to me?

As in, what the hell is the deal here, and why do you crazy people care about blocking his extradition?

Quote Originally Posted by /.
In UK, Hacker Demands New Government Block Extradition

Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon has called on the newly elected British government to put its money where its mouth is and tear up his extradition order. US prosecutors have been trying to get McKinnon before a New Jersey court for seven years after they caught him hacking into US military and NASA computers looking for evidence of UFOs. David Cameron, the newly elected prime minister, and Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, had both voiced their support for McKinnon's campaign against extradition. Other ministers in the coalition government had branded the extradition unjust. Clegg had even joined McKinnon's mother, Janis Sharp, on a protest march."
Really, only in the UK could an admitted felon get popular support for not being tried, based on whackball UFO theories.

Meanwhile, yous guys convict people for making jokes on Twitter to their friends.
Quote Originally Posted by Loki View Post
Anti-Americanism. There was also a scandal about some British businessmen getting extradited to the US for fraud, despite Brits calling for the heads of businessmen who committed fraud in Britain.
Well, there are many reasons against the extradition, some with more weight than others.

- He was tracked down in 2002 by the UK's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) and arrested under the Computer Misuse Act. This Act carried a six-month sentence and was not an extraditable offence, despite Mckinnon being indicted by the US. He was free under UK law and at liberty subsequently. Nothing more to it, justice is served.

- In 2005 the UK brought in the controvertial Extradition Act 2003, which ... allows the US to extradite UK citizens and others for offences committed against US law, even though the alleged offence may have been committed in the UK by a person living and working in the UK (see for example the NatWest Three), and there being no reciprocal right; and issues about the level of proof required being less to extradite from the UK to the US rather than vice-versa[2]. ... and wherein the US did not need to provide contestable evidence
... The US and in particular the State of Virginia waited until this controvertial act was ratified before applying for Mckinnon's extradition. He had been free under UK law for three years by this time ...

- He suffers from Asperger's Syndrome. As stated by one Joseph Richard Gutheinz, Jr., a retired NASA Office of Inspector General Senior Special Agent, also an American criminal defense attorney and former Member of the Texas Criminal Justice Advisory Committee on Offenders with Medical and Mental Impairments; Gary McKinnon could not find justice if extradited to America from the UK, because of America’s poor track record in aggressively prosecuting offenders with mental impairments. Gutheinz was especially concerned that McKinnon's diagnosis of Asperger syndrome would not be dealt with sympathetically by the US criminal justice system. (Wiki).
Yes siree, we know how you 'murikans treat your mental cases.

- He faces up to 70 years in US maximum security prisons - 7 counts of Computer Hacking which carry up to 10 years each. In the UK the equivalent crime carries up to 5 years.

~

On 9 May 2010 The Times reported that the Conservative Party had pledged to halt the extradition, as they felt that the treaty, designed to catch terror suspects, was being misapplied.

Nick Clegg has taken part in support marches for Mckinnon the past.

So the two men most central to the UK's new government are entirely against this extradition.