Computer hacker Gary McKinnon will find out Tuesday whether he is to face extradition to the United States after a marathon 10-year legal battle.
Home Secretary Theresa May is expected to announce a decision in the House of Commons on the case in which McKinnon has admitted hacking into NASA and Pentagon computers but claims he was looking for information about UFOs.
A medical review ordered by the Home Office has concluded that the 46-year-old who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome — a form of autism — was likely to try to commit suicide if extradited.
The assessment is likely to have been a key consideration for the Home Secretary who is also expected to announce changes to Britain’s extradition arrangements with the US, according to media reports.
McKinnon could face up to 60 years in prison if convicted of what has been described as “the biggest military computer hack of all time”.
His mother Janis Sharp was optimistic of a positive outcome Tuesday but said the lengthy battle has been tantamount to “waterboarding of the mind” for her son, who she said was going through “the most dreadful time ever.”
“He just sits there. He’s scared, he can’t go out because people recognise him,” she added.
Prime Minister David Cameron has in the past condemned plans to extradite McKinnon and twice raised the case with US President Barack Obama.
McKinnon, from Wood Green, north London, was arrested in 2002, and again in 2005, before an order for his extradition was made in July 2006.
He has since applied for three judicial reviews into the decision and is expected to apply for another if May rules in favour of his extradition.
The expected announcement comes amid mounting criticism in Britain that the government is too willing to bow to extradition requests from the US, with some MPs calling for a change to the British-American extradition treaty.
However an independent review by Sir Scott Baker last year found the treaty to be balanced and fair.
Hacker McKinnon to learn extradition fate
