McKinnon’s mother urges Queen to stop extradition

December 16th, 2009 | Author: Larry Fedja

all credits: The Mail
15th December 2009

Gary McKinnon’s mother yesterday made a last ditch plea to the Queen urging her to stop the extradition of her son. Janis Sharp, 60, wrote a letter, which she took in person to Buckingham Palace, detailing her computer hacker son’s ‘torture’ since he was arrested in 2002.

Lawyers for the Asperger’s sufferer have applied to the High Court for a judicial review of Home Secretary Alan Johnson’s decision to send him for trial in the United States.

But Mr Johnson said yesterday that Gary must answer the serious criminal charges put to him by U.S. prosecutors and that he is determined to see the 43-year-old ‘treated fairly’.

If the appeal fails, Gary – who psychiatrists warn may take his own life if extradited – could be on a plane to America within days. He faces up to 60 years in a high security jail for hacking into Nasa and Pentagon computers.

In the letter Mrs Sharp wrote: “I am appealing to you to please do all that you can to help to stop the extradition of my vulnerable son”.

The Daily Mail is calling on the Mr Johnson to halt Gary’s extradition on the grounds that forcing a man with Asperger’s to serve a long prison service in the U.S. would be catastrophic for his mental health.

Around 50 supporters demonstrated outside the Home Office before walking to the palace yesterday.