Hain offers support to British hacker facing extradition

Published: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:01:00

Cabinet minister Peter Hain has defied the government's official position and called for the case of computer hacker Gary McKinnon to be "assessed in a British context". Mr McKinnon, who suffers from Asperger's syndrome, is due to be extradited to the United States despite claims from his legal team and supporters his health could be seriously affected if tried abroad. The 43-year-old has admitted cracking into American military computers but denies his actions were malicious, insisting instead that he was looking for information on UFOs.

US officials, though, are continuing to seek his extradition and if convicted in America he could face up to 70 years in prison. Last week, he failed in an attempt to challenge the decisions made by the Home Office and director of public prosecutions not to try him in the UK.

Home secretary Alan Johnson has insisted he does not have the power to block Mr McKinnon's extradition. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Mr Hain offered his support to Mr McKinnon and said the case should have been referred to the Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions. "I would have preferred it if I had been in the position to have a say on this – and the law is just following its course to have had the director of public prosecutions made this decision," the Welsh secretary said.

"We could then gave had a position where it could have been assessed in a British context – after all, he was sitting in his bedroom by his computer, as a kind of computer geek zapping the American defence system, and therefore he was committing an offence on British soil." He added: "I have got a lot of sympathy for Gary McKinnon and his mum, who is a very brave woman fighting for his rights. He has got Asperger's syndrome which does tend to produce the kind of behaviour that is very compulsive" Mayor of London Boris Johnson has also weighed in on the issue.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Johnson said Mr McKinnon should be protected by the government rather than being "catapulted" across the Atlantic. He added that if the allegations against Mr McKinnon were indeed true: "The Americans shouldn't be threatening him with jail. They should be offering him consultancy."

It is alleged the 43-year-old hacked into a total of 97 US government computers including those belonging to Nasa. Lawyers for Mr McKinnon claim the stress of a trial abroad could cause him to suffer a mental breakdown or even contemplate suicide due to his condition.

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