The US wants to try Gary McKinnon for what it calls the biggest military computer hack of all time. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

The home secretary, Alan Johnson, pledged today to examine new medical evidence in the case of the computer hacker Gary McKinnon "very carefully" before approving his extradition to the US on charges of breaking into the Pentagon's military networks.

Johnson told MPs he had "stopped the clock" on proceedings to give McKinnon's lawyers time to consider medical reports and make legal representations.

The home secretary was today also pressed to delay further until an investigation into the US-UK extradition treaty had been carried out by the Commons home affairs select committee.

The 43-year-old, from Wood Green, north London, suffers from Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism, and says his hacking was aimed at nothing more than searching for reports of UFO sightings. His supporters fear his health would suffer in a maximum security jail in the US.

He had challenged Home Office decisions allowing his extradition to go ahead and the refusal of Keir Starmer QC, the director of public prosecutions, to put him on trial in the UK on charges of computer misuse. He failed in his high court bid to avoid extradition in July.

Johnson said the high court had already dismissed applications for McKinnon to be tried in the UK.

He said: "We have stopped the clock ticking on the representation to the European court because new medical evidence has been provided.

"There are two issues upon which Gary McKinnon's legal advisors have argued: the first is that the director of public prosecutions should have tried him in this country.

"The high court in July dismissed that, and wouldn't allow it to go to judicial review."

"I have to ensure that his Article 3 human rights are being respected. It's that new medical evidence that I will be looking at very carefully".

McKinnon's MP, David Burrowes, said the new medical evidence was "compelling" and detailed the effect extradition would have on McKinnon's Asperger's.

The Conservative MP for Enfield Southgate urged the home secretary not to execute the extradition order until after the select committee inquiry on 10 November.

When McKinnon was refused permission to appeal to the supreme court earlier this month, Lord Justice Stanley Burnton, who also heard his earlier high court appeal, said extradition was "a lawful and proportionate response" to his alleged offending.

He said McKinnon would be unlikely to succeed with his claim that extradition would breach his right to a private and family life, under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights.

Nor did the court think that extradition to the US would be a breach of his right not to be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment under Article 3.

In August, Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman said that if McKinnon were convicted by an American court, Britain would move quickly to arrange for him to serve any jail term in the UK.

Submitted by epriezka on 23 October 2009

I am not going to make an argument for supporting hacker Gary McKinnon in his bid to overturn the decision to extradite him to the US.  If even the Daily Mail believes he should be tried in an English court, then I find it hard to believe that the average Pirate is not well aware of Gary's situation.  Most of you will have strong feelings about it too.  I admit that I do.  The goal of this post is not to argue for my opinion - policy should never be made on the fly - but to ask for your help in deciding if, and how, the party should support Gary.

How far should the party engage with and assist Gary's campaign?  The issues do not fit easily with the core three policy pillars.  On the other hand, we are talking about the wellbeing of a real human being, and the question of how to apply national laws in the era of a global internet.  You can contribute to determining the party's direction and whether the issues raised by Gary's case should fall within the scope of our manifesto.  This will also help us to judge if the party should provide more hands-on assistance to the people campaigning on Gary's behalf.  You can do so by responding with your opinions here, or by voting on the party's forum.

Time is running out for Gary.  Whilst all policy creation should come from the party's democratic process, your response will assist us to make the right decisions in what may be the final weeks of Gary's bid to remain in the UK.  Please help.

The refusal by the new supreme court to consider the case of Gary McKinnon, the computer hacker facing extradition to the United States, comes as no surprise. But the decision now offers the home secretary, Alan Johnson, a final opportunity to act with decency and compassion and intervene, as he is legally entitled to do.

In the wake of the latest ruling, the only legal option left to McKinnon is through the European court of human rights. The chances of success there remain slim. This means that the one person who can halt the whole process is Johnson.

So far the home secretary has made it clear that he is not minded to halt the extradition and what is likely to be a wholly disproportionate punishment in the US courts for a man with Asperger's syndrome. However, Johnson will now be given new medical evidence about McKinnon's condition that will grant him a very valid opportunity to reassess his stance.

This week, McKinnon's mother, Janis Sharp, was addressing a fringe meeting at the Conservative party conference in Manchester. She was warmly received by Tory party members and received a sympathetic hearing from the relevant shadow ministers, Chris Grayling and Dominic Grieve. McKinnon has also received backing from the former Tory shadow home secretary, David Davis, the London mayor, Boris Johnson, the Lib Dems' Chris Huhne, Labour figures Michael Meacher and Keith Vaz and a growing number of public figures such as Terry Waite.

Just as Jack Straw intervened in the case of General Pinochet – to allow him to return to Chile rather than face trial in Spain for human rights abuses – so Johnson can now step forward and speak sense on behalf of McKinnon. The compelling new medical evidence that he will be presented with – about McKinnon's deteriorating condition – gives him the chance to halt the extradition and process McKinnon through the British courts. At the very least, Johnson can extract from the US authorities a watertight guarantee that, if extradited, McKinnon will be granted immediate bail and any sentence passed by a US court would be served in its entirety in a British jail.

Johnson has, almost certainly, only a few months left as home secretary. He has no need to bow to demands from across the Atlantic and surrender someone whose main offence is tweaking the nose of the US defence establishment nearly a decade ago. Jack Straw, in the case of Michael Shields – the Liverpool football fan jailed in Bulgaria but freed in the UK – showed how a British minister can intervene when he believes a serious miscarriage has been perpetrated. Now Johnson can either turn his back on McKinnon – or he can remind people who once saw the Labour party as standing for the underdog against the bully that there is still a vestige of that spirit left.

Gary McKinnon has lost his fight to stand trial in the UK on charges of hacking into US military networks. Photograph: Sang Tan/AP

Computer hacker Gary McKinnon lost his long battle to stand trial in the UK today when he was refused permission to appeal to the supreme court against extradition to the US on charges of breaking into the Pentagon's military networks.

The court decided the case did not raise "points of law of general public importance", which are neccessary if a case is to be pursued at the higher level.

The decision extinguishes McKinnon's legal options in the UK, but his lawyers said they would now consider applying to the European court of human rights in Strasbourg.

Giving the court's decision, Lord Justice Stanley Burnton, who heard McKinnon's latest appeal earlier this year with Mr Justice Wilkie, said extradition was "a lawful and proportionate response" to his alleged offending.

He said McKinnon would be unlikely to succeed with his claim that extradition would breach his right to a private and family life, under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights.

Nor did the court think that extradition to the US would be a breach of his right not to be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment under Article 3.

McKinnon's mother, Janis Sharp, said the decision was "devoid of humanity".

"No other country in the world would so readily offer its citizens to the US as sacrificial lambs merely to safeguard a 'special political relationship'.

"To use my desperately vulnerable son in this way is despicable, immoral and devoid of humanity."

McKinnon's solicitor, Karen Todner, said the trial was having a "devastating" effect on the 43-year-old's health. "He is a highly vulnerable man in a very fragile state and this is a huge blow to him and his family," she said.

"Why is our government so inhumane as to allow this to happen to someone, particularly someone with Asperger's, a form of autism? This is the wholesale destruction and bullying of a small individual by the United States and now our own government.

"Our extradition treaty with the US is unfair and prejudicial to UK citizens and should be repealed or amended immediately."

Todner said every further avenue, including the European court, would be explored.

Sabina Frediani, campaigns co-ordinator for Liberty, which supported McKinnon's case, said: "Never were justice and the law so out of sync as in the case of Britain's rotten extradition arrangements. People up and down the country are rightly horrified by the way that a vulnerable man has been sold down the river when he should have been protected and tried here at home."

She said Liberty would support any appeal to the European court and would work to ensure parliament "faces up to its responsibilities to amend the act".

McKinnon's lawyers and supporters argue his hacking was aimed at nothing more than searching for reports of UFO sightings.

McKinnon, from Wood Green, north London, had challenged Home Office decisions allowing his extradition to go ahead and the refusal of Keir Starmer QC, the director of public prosecutions, to put him on trial in the UK on charges of computer misuse. He failed in his high court bid to avoid extradition in July.

The Home Office said no further comment would be made while McKinnon continued to pursue the legal avenues available to him.

A spokesman said: "We note today's judgement. The case remains before the courts. Therefore, we do not propose to comment further at this stage."

• Jamie Doward
• The Observer, Sunday 13 September 2009
• Article history

Gary McKinnon, the computer hacker with Asperger's syndrome who broke into the Pentagon's computer systems in his search for proof of UFOs, is likely to discover this week whether his appeal against extradition to the US will be heard by the UK's highest court.

His legal team claim the new supreme court of England and Wales must hear the appeal under the European convention on human rights. They argue that because the court has agreed to hear an appeal against extradition to the US brought by Ian Norris, a businessman who has prostate cancer, that ruling should apply to their client.

The civil rights group Liberty, which supports McKinnon (pictured below), said there may be "compelling personal reasons why a defendant should not be sent abroad for trial".

Janis McKinnon, Gary's mother, said her son was suffering from depression and friends were concerned he may be suicidal.

Hacker backer pays £100k to prevent McKinnon US trial

This is bad news...