That’s what Theresa May did for Gary McKinnon, who faced extradition to the US over hacking allegations. Had the new proposals previously been in place, Gary couldn’t have been saved. So today we focus on his story, and the experiences of his mother Janis Sharp, in the latest of our new Common Values series of blogs and films.
Gary, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, was first arrested in March 2002. “He’d been taken, he’d been questioned for many hours and he’d signed something that even the policeman couldn’t read,” Janis says. “I was very, very scared. Also it ties you – you can’t actually do anything.” Gary was forced to leave the flat he shared with friends because of press attention and was unable to find work.
His first extradition hearing was in 2005 and the case then went to the High Court, which eventually ruled his removal could go ahead. “We wanted Gary tried here because he had never left this country and no other person who’d ever been accused of hacking had ever been extradited,” Janis continues. “Because of the extradition treaty, it’s very difficult for the judges. Their hands are tied; they’ve got virtually no room, or so little room, for manoeuvre.”
Liberty joined Gary’s supporters in campaigning for the introduction of the forum amendment, which would allow British courts to bar extradition where the alleged conduct took place in the UK. But when it came to saving Gary, it was only the Human Rights Act the Home Secretary could rely upon.
“I was always aware of the Human Rights Act and what I always thought of it as was something that prevented torture,” Janis recalls. “I didn’t realise how important it was in cases of extradition. Extradition was meant for fugitives who’d fled from a country where they’d committed a heinous crime – we’d never had to fight for people who’d never left this country”.
In October last year the Home Secretary halted Gary’s extradition – on the grounds it would breach Article 3 – no torture, inhuman or degrading treatment. “Now I realise how important Article 3 of the Human Rights Act is,” Janis concludes. “We’re so happy and so relieved that Gary will be able to get his life back, once he’s recovered his mental health to a degree, and we will have our lives back. How good is that?”
So there are a couple of lessons for the Government – stop bashing the Human Rights Act, as it’s the only thing which allowed the Home Secretary to stop Gary’s removal. And rethink these disappointing reforms, which wouldn’t have prevented any unjust extradition to date – least of all Gary’s.
