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UK to weigh extraditing hacker
Oct 16th 2012, 08:25

  • Gary McKinnon has been fighting extradition to the United States for a decade
  • U.S. prosecutors accuse McKinnon of breaking into military, NASA and civilian networks
  • He says he was doing research into U.S. government information on UFOs
  • McKinnon's lawyer and family say extradition would be a breach of his human rights

London (CNN) -- UK Home Secretary Theresa May is set to announce Tuesday whether Gary McKinnon, who has admitted to breaking into computers at NASA and the Pentagon, will be extradited to the United States.

McKinnon, a British citizen, has admitted breaking the law and intentionally gaining unauthorized access to U.S. government computers but has fought a decade-long battle against extradition.

The U.S. government says McKinnon carried out the biggest military computer hacking of all time, accessing 97 computers from his home in London for a year starting in March 2001, and costing the government about $1 million.

U.S. authorities want him extradited to face trial in the United States.

McKinnon, who has been free on bail in England, has said he was simply doing research to find out whether the U.S. government was covering up the existence of UFOs.

His lawyer, Karen Todner, has argued against his extradition on human rights grounds because he has Asperger syndrome.

U.S. federal prosecutors accuse McKinnon of breaking into military, NASA and civilian networks, and accessing computers at the Pentagon; Fort Benning, Georgia; Fort Meade, Maryland; the Earle Naval Weapons Station in Colts Neck, New Jersey; and the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, among others.

In one case, McKinnon allegedly crashed computers belonging to the Military District of Washington.

McKinnon is believed to have acted alone, with no known connection to any terrorist organization, said Paul McNulty, the former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

A U.S. federal grand jury indicted McKinnon on seven counts of computer fraud and related activity. If convicted, he would face a maximum of 10 years in prison on each count and a $250,000 fine.

Todner has previously complained that the United States has never provided evidence to prosecutors or McKinnon's legal team to support their extradition request -- and in fact, under Britain's Extradition Act of 2003, U.S. prosecutors are not required to.

McKinnon was on the brink of extradition in August 2008, when the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, refused to reconsider the decision to send him to the United States, effectively clearing the way for his transfer.

Shortly after that decision, however, McKinnon was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, and he claims that diagnosis changed the case for extradition.

People with Asperger syndrome suffer difficulty in social relationships, communication, and social imagination, according to The National Autistic Society in Britain. Asperger syndrome may often include having special interests and becoming anxious if a routine is broken.

Todner and McKinnon's family say extraditing him to the United States would breach his human rights as an Asperger sufferer.

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