Gary McKinnon is not going to the United States to face trial. Nick Clegg was pretty darn clear when asked about this before the General Election in 2010 and he has come through. No doubts he put heavy pressure on the Home Secretary to get this decision and it is one I think it fair and we should be very happy with.
Nick (or someone writing on behalf of Nick) sent the following e-mail out to Lib Dem members earlier this evening.
In opposition, we were unequivocal: Gary McKinnon should not be extradited. I said at the time that he was too vulnerable to be uprooted from his friends and family and sent across the Atlantic, and if there was a case to answer it should be here in the UK.
So today I am absolutely delighted by the Home Secretary’s decision to withdraw his extradition order.
I want to congratulate Gary and his mother Janis on their deserved victory. They have campaigned tirelessly and I pay tribute to their strength and determination.
But there was another significant moment as well: the Coalition Government has announced that we will seek to amend the US-UK extradition process to make it fairer in future.
We’re adding a so-called “forum bar” which will mean that British courts can decide to block a request for extradition if it is in the interests of justice to try the case here. This will increase the overall transparency of our extradition arrangements and will better balance the safeguards for defendants.
We will let you know more detail in due course on this announcement because today is about Gary. Today is a day for celebrating.
Good times. The fact that the extradition process is going to amended is not just a win for today but a win for future cases as well.
Not a terrible day at all…