Saved from extradition to U.S. – after campaign by the Mail
Judges lift threat of trial for Asperger’s ‘computer hacker’ amid suicide fears
FOUR years living in terror that he would be extradited to the US came to an end for alleged computer hacker Lauri Love yesterday.
In a victory for the Daily Mail, judges said it would not be in the interests of justice to send the 33-year-old Asperger’s sufferer to America where it was feared he might kill himself.
Supporters of the minister’s son, who faced a possible 99year jail term in the US, cheered the landmark decision at a packed High Court in London.
Outside court Mr Love kissed his girlfriend Sylvia Mann as he celebrated his victory. But last night he said the long extradition battle had plunged him into despair. Mr Love, who as well as Asperger’s has a depressive illness and severe eczema, told Channel 4 News: ‘It’s a feeling of constant, continuous despair that stays at the back of your mind, knowing that one day you may be plucked thousands of miles away and possibly never see your friends or loved ones ever again to serve time in inhumane conditions.
‘That has led to very acute episodes of depression and suicidal thoughts for sometimes days on end. It’s been a very heavy toll on myself and the family for the last four years.’
Mr Love, who studied at Glasgow University and is the son of Scots Baptist minister the Rev Alexander Love, is alleged to have stolen data from US agencies including the Federal Reserve, the US army, Nasa and the FBI in online attacks in 2012 and 2013. In 2016 a judge ruled he could be extradited but Mr Love, from Stradishall, Suffolk, appealed to the High Court.
The Daily Mail campaigned against his extradition, and experts and relatives warned he would commit suicide if imprisoned in the US where there is little provision for those with mental health problems.
Yesterday Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett, the most senior judge in England and Wales, and Mr Justice Ouseley said: ‘This appeal is allowed and the appellant is discharged and the order for his extradition is quashed.’
In a written ruling they added: ‘We have come to the conclusion Mr Love’s extradition would be oppressive by reason of his physical and mental condition.
‘We accept that the evidence shows that the fact of extradition would bring on severe depression, and that Mr Love would probably be determined to commit suicide, here or in America.’
They said he could still face trial in the UK. The Crown Prosecution Service said it was considering the case.
Meanwhile, the US authorities have 14 days to request that the extradition case is referred to the Supreme Court.
Mr Love said he would accept being tried in the UK where he would face a more lenient sentence of up to 18 months and be better supported if found guilty.
‘This is what we have been fighting for, this has not been a fight for impunity,’ he said. Telling a press conference he hoped to work in computer security in the future, he added: ‘I’m relieved I am no longer facing the prospect of being locked up for potentially the rest of my life in a country I’ve never visited.
‘If this precedent can avoid someone less fortunate having to go through this ordeal then that would make it worthwhile. This legal struggle has defined my life for four years.
‘It is good it has come to a satisfactory and a just conclusion, which expresses the values of compassion and care.’
Later he told Radio 4’s PM programme: ‘It basically means that there isn’t a serious prospect that my life will come to a tragic early end because I would
A danger to America? No, I’m just a harmless hippy hacker Daily Mail November 2, 2013
‘Never see your loved ones again’
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I’ll die in jail: Fear of ‘hacker’ with Asperger’s as Rudd backs US extradition November 15, 2016
have to be in a prison in a country I had never visited for probably decades. Now I can go from having to worry about that mortal peril every day, to worrying about some slightly less mortal peril of being prosecuted in the UK, which compared to the US justice system is a walk in the park.’
His father, the Rev Love, said: ‘This is a victory for justice. What makes Great Britain great is that we live in a place with wisdom and compassion.’
Yesterday’s decision will come as a relief to Theresa May who, while home secretary, introduced the law which prevented Mr Love’s trial in the US.
He was spared extradition after the judges upheld the application of the so-called Forum Bar.
The law is intended to prevent extradition where most of the alleged crime has taken place in the UK, and when it would not be in the interests of justice for the accused to be tried abroad.
It was introduced by Mrs May in 2013 after she spared Glasgowborn Gary McKinnon, a fellow Asperger’s alleged computer hacker facing a similar situation to that of Mr Love.
Mr Love’s extradition battle was the Forum Bar’s first test in UK law, but the district judge in 2016, Nina Tempia, ruled he could be lawfully extradited. Yesterday the Rev Love added: ‘The other person who should be happy today is our Prime Minister. Because basically the compassion she showed over Gary McKinnon, which was enshrined in law with the Forum Bar, has actually come to fruition.’
Mr Love’s firm of solicitors, Kaim Todner, hailed yesterday’s case as a ‘landmark’ decision which recognised the supremacy of British courts and Mr Love’s vulnerabilities.
The ruling was also welcomed by civil rights campaigners, who have long criticised the unfair extradition treaty which is stacked in the US’s favour.
Campaign group Liberty described as ‘shameful’ the decision to put Mr Love and his family through the ordeal of the court system.
Comment – Page 16
WISTED JUSTICE s the Left’s pin-up sange STILL evades extradition, how tesque we’re sending young Briton with erger’s to the US... to up to 99 years in jail November 16, 2016
‘Supremacy of British courts’
29 Britons accused of hacking US... so why is Asperger’s sufferer singled out for extradition? November 22, 2016
Medical expert’s warning over Asperger ‘hacker’ Nov 30, 2016
Don’t let them send my quirky brother to US prison January 10, 2017
Asperger’s ‘hacker’ wins right to appeal extradition to the US April 26, 2017
‘For sake of justice and humanity, do not extradite him’ November 30, 2017