US and UK 'bartering with McKinnon's life': ePolitix.com

By Lord Maginnis - 23rd March 2011

The treatment of computer hacker Gary McKinnon during his extradition process has been "unbelievable and unforgivable", says Lord Maginnis.

Gary McKinnon is an extremely talented young man who just happens to be on the Autistic Spectrum – he has a condition which means that he may think differently; communicate differently and interpret differently from you and me.

Because his latent ingenuity – Gary is on the Asperger's end of the spectrum – made him curious to the point of being obsessive when it came to computing, he simply kept going until he managed to hack into the Pentagon. That was not supposed to happen, but it did and that was almost 10 years ago.

Since then, two world powers – the US and the UK – have bartered with Gary McKinnon's life. While they have agonised authoritatively on such matters as Iraq, Afghanistan, and a multiplicity of other human rights issues – sometimes being right, just as often being wrong – they have deliberately subjected Gary McKinnon to the sort of psychological torture that is unbelievable and unforgivable. And for almost 10 unbearable years!

For the past 16 years I have taken a special interest in ASD and cannot understand why the human rights of Gary are of any less value than those of a refugee or a criminal who, having rejected society's rules, must now be entitled to vote on how society regulates itself.

Those on the Autistic Spectrum, with proper interventions, are often able to adjust to their conditions where there is a high degree of stability in their lives. For almost 10 years we have denied Gary McKinnon that assurance that is necessary for his mental and, ultimately, his physical survival.

Many recidivist burglars, sexual predators, those guilty of manslaughter and a host of other offenders find leniency within our courts system and awareness within our society that they should be helped to reform. But, whatever his condition has made him, Gary McKinnon is no criminal; has no terrorist associations; and has never denied the inherent inquisitiveness that has been the genesis of his difficulty.

So why do two major nations conspire relentlessly to punish him with the threat of a lifetime of imprisonment? Is it because of his vulnerability that he is seen as a potential 'example' to other would-be hackers? Some impression that would make on al-Qaeda or the Taliban !

Isn't it truly time that the UK stood up for its own citizens if we, honestly, want to influence other nations to do better? How can we in the UK be exemplars, if so lacking in compassion for our disadvantaged fellow citizen?

Lord Maginnis of Drumglasswas MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 1983-2001. He sits as a crossbench peer.

Article Comments

The true mark of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable and disadvantaged.

The west in general is guilty of unbearably sickening hypocrisy on the world stage in this regard.

mc
23rd Mar 2011 at 9:56 pm

Quite correct, Lord Maginnis and I hope you are campaigning on the more general issues of European Extradition Warrants and other outrages against British sovereignty, which successive governments have failed even to campaign against, let alone stop.

Airyfairy
23rd Mar 2011 at 10:11 am

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