Friday, November 27, 2009
Gary McKinnon
Solicitors for Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon are planning a 11th-hour judicial review after Home Secretary Alan Johnson decided new medical evidence was insufficient reason for him to step in and block US extradition proceedings. Johnson's decision runs contrary to the findings of the Commons' Home Affairs Committee that McKinnon's extradition ought to be halted because of his "precarious state of mental health". The MPs also criticised the lopsided US-UK extradition treaty that means US authorities are not obliged to present any evidence when seeking the extradition of a British citizen.
IMO: The whole treaty was yet another of Tony Blair's mistakes. Whether Johnson is wise from his own standpoint to behave as he has, seemingly genuinely contradicting medical expertise, is another matter. Johnson seems to have been right enough about Nutt, but this is another matter and it seems most incorrect that McKinnon should be extradited or indeed that the present extradition treaty should remain. The problem is that if McKinnon really does commit suicide, as he may well do, it could badly - and irrelevantly - affect the politics/science interface.
IMO: The whole treaty was yet another of Tony Blair's mistakes. Whether Johnson is wise from his own standpoint to behave as he has, seemingly genuinely contradicting medical expertise, is another matter. Johnson seems to have been right enough about Nutt, but this is another matter and it seems most incorrect that McKinnon should be extradited or indeed that the present extradition treaty should remain. The problem is that if McKinnon really does commit suicide, as he may well do, it could badly - and irrelevantly - affect the politics/science interface.
# posted by uv : 4:10 PM
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