In Latest Extradition Battle, a Victory for British Hacker

LONDON - In a victory for anti-extradition campaigners in Britain, the government ruled on Tuesday that a hacker wanted in the United States for accessing top-secret military computers will not be sent there to face trial.

Theresa May, the British minister in charge of home affairs, made clear to Parliament that her decision in the case of the hacker, Gary McKinnon, was a one-time ruling linked to serious concerns about his health, not a new policy in the controversial fight over extradition of British nationals to the United States. Campaigners nevertheless welcomed a crack in an extradition regime that they claim is unfair to British suspects.

In Mr. McKinnon's case, British prosecutors now have to decide whether he should face trial in Britain.

Ms. May also said she would review extradition law in order to allow British courts to decided whether defendants facing extradition should stand trial in Britain, instead.

The campaign involves a controve rsial treaty between Britain and the United States that was intended to facilitate the extradition of terror suspects after the Qaeda attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Legislation came into force in Britain in 2004 and two years later in the United States.

Opponents of the treaty say it is lopsided, although an official review by a retired British judge concluded a year ago that the law was not biased in favor of the United States.

Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, promptly ordered a second review by a senior member of his own Liberal Democrats. This review came to the opposite conclusion.

Human rights organizations and one-issue lobbying groups like Friends Extradited have called for the scrapping of what they regard as a one-sided law. The right-leaning Daily Mail newspaper started an Affront to British Justice campaign against the law, which it called “rotten and unfair.”

In the Gary McKinnon case, the 46-year-old Scottish hacker is accused of co nducting the biggest military computer hack of all time, which caused $800,000 worth of damage to military computer systems.

Mr. McKinnon has admitted he hacked into dozens of U.S. computers from his London apartment, but said he was looking for unidentified flying objects.

The debate in Britain on the McKinnon case has been dominated by the fact that he suffers from Asperger syndrome and had a high risk of suicide if he lost his 10-year battle against extradition.

Handy extended tweet on legal mythology of the #McKinnon case:bit.ly/SXwyI4- final Home Secretary decision due today. #FreeGary

- Jack of Kent (@DavidAllenGreen) October 16, 2012

He had also passed up the chance of a favorable plea bargain and U.S. authorities had raised no principled opposition to him applying to serve his sentence in Britain, according to Mr. Green.

The extradition issue also surfaced this month when a notorious jihadist preacher and four other suspects were flown to the U.S.

Few tears were shed for the departure of the main suspect, Abu Hamza al-Masri. But, in the case of two of the extradited men, human rights groups expressed doubt about the jus tice of sending British citizens abroad to face trial.

Other Britons who failed to avoid extradition include Christopher Tappin, a 65-year-old businessman accused of selling missile-related items to Iran. He is set to go on trial in Texas next month on charges that could lead to a 35-year jail sentence.

According to his wife, Elaine, “The emotional, financial and psychological impact of extradition on all the family is hard to overstate.”

In another case, three bankers - the so-called NatWest three - were extradited to the United States in 2006 on charges of wire fraud connected with the collapse of Enron, the American energy company.

They pleaded guilty to one charge each and were moved to jail in Britain after starting three-year sentences in the United States.

According to David Bermingham, one of the NatWest three, “Extradition plays a vital role in our cross-border cooperation on matters of criminal justice but to my mind extradition should be a last step, not the first step.”