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[Torture is just sooo funneeeeee]<br>
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US disappointed by 'laughable' decision on Gary McKinnon
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<p>State Department officials will study ruling and could ask
Interpol to issue red notice</p>
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<a
href="http://www.independent.co.uk/biography/nikhil-kumar">
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Nikhil Kumar
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src="cid:part2.06050402.05070406@gmail.com" alt="Author
Biography">
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New York
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Wednesday 17 October 2012
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<p>The American government expressed its disappointment last
night after the Home Secretary halted Gary McKinnon's
extradition to the US.</p>
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<p>The State Department said it was examining the ruling by
Theresa May yesterday to block the extradition of the
46-year-old computer hacker with Asperger's syndrome and
severe depression as it would be "incompatible with human
rights". Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the department,
said the US "was disappointed by the decision" to deny Mr
McKinnon's transfer across the Atlantic to face what she
called "long overdue justice in the United States".</p>
<p>For 10 years, American prosecutors have been seeking to bring
Mr McKinnon to the US to face trial for hacking into military
computers. It is claimed that Mr McKinnon damaged scores of
machines as a result. He denies any malicious intent, saying
instead that he was looking for files related to UFOs.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, the Prime Minister David Cameron raised
the case with Barack Obama. On a visit to Washington, Mr
Cameron acknowledged that Mr McKinnon was accused of a "very
important and significant crime" but that he was hoping that
"a way through can be found".</p>
<p>The US Department of Justice said that it was also
disappointed at the Home Secretary's decision, "particularly
given the past decisions of the UK courts and prior Home
Secretaries that he should face trial in the United States".
It did not, however, view the ruling as a precedent for other
cases.</p>
<p>"The Home Secretary has described this case as exceptional
and, thus, this decision does not set a precedent for future
cases," said Rebekah Carmichael, a spokeswoman for the
department. "The Home Secretary has acknowledged that Mr.
McKinnon is accused of serious crimes". She added that,
despite this ruling, the US-UK extradition relationship
"remains strong, as is demonstrated by the extradition of five
alleged terrorists" to the US earlier in October. "Our
extradition treaty serves the interests of both our nations,"
said Ms Carmichael.</p>
<p>Douglas McNabb, a Washington-based expert on US federal law,
said that US authorities may yet decide to pursue Mr McKinnon
via Interpol, the international policing body. "Now that the
Home Secretary has made this decision that, of course, bars
the US from seeking his extradition, I think the next step is
that they may well ask Interpol to issue a red notice... so
that if Mr McKinnon were to travel outside the UK, the red
notice would pop up and he would be arrested," he said. This,
he explained, would open the door to the possibility of
renewed extradition proceedings in the country of his arrest.</p>
<p>Another US lawyer, David Rivkin, who worked for the Reagan
and Bush administrations, criticised Ms May's decision, saying
that to deny the extradition on health grounds was
"laughable". "Under that logic, anybody who claims some kind
of physical or mental problem can commit crimes with impunity
and get away with it," he told the BBC.</p>
<p>The US said the extradition relationship remained strong, as
shown by the Hamza case</p>
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