“I fully support Autism SAAS & the petition Kevin Healey has launched to help to keep my son Gary McKinnon in the U.K” Janis Sharp
http://signup4garymckinnon.yolasite.com/
GARY McKINNON
Gary McKinnon has 28 days to appeal against the High Court decision to extradite him to the United States. The high court decided to uphold a refusal by Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions, to sanction a trial in the UK. The home secretary, Alan Johnson, said he would abide by the ruling. “It would be illegal for me to stop the extradition of Gary McKinnon, which the court ruling has made clear.”The Free Gary campaign has won the support of more than 100 MPs and received backing from many UK newspapers including the Daily Mail and celebrities such as as Bob Geldof, Dave Gilmour,Chrissie Hynde, Barry Norman, Jilly Cooper, Nick Hornby and Julie Christie. Many autism charities including (SAAS) Staffordshire Adults Autistic Society, The UK Autism Foundation,the Autism Trust, the National Autistic Society and others are backing the campaign.
Gary McKinnon’s lawyers have said that extradition arrangements between Britain and the US are imbalanced. Figures released in the House of Commons in Westminster to the Liberal Democrats in response to parliamentary questions reveal that the UK has extradited twice as many criminal suspects to the US as those who have gone the other way.
Harriet Harman recently said:”If he is found guilty, then obviously straight away we will seek for him to serve any prison sentence – if he is sentenced to prison – back in this country,” Harman told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show. We will hold Ms Harman to her assurances on this matter.
Peter Hain became the first member of the Cabinet to support Gary since the High Court ruling. The Welsh Secretary suggested he would rather the computer hacker were tried in the UK than extradited to America.
The campaign in support of Gary McKinnon is gaining momentum and Gary’s lawyers are leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to halt the extradition.
Here is what you can do:
*Write to your Member of Parliament urging your MP to contact Home Secretary Alan Johnson and asking him to act – he has the power to stop the extradition and even Lord Carlisle has said that Gary could be tried in the UK.
*Contact your local media pledging your support and urging local people to sign our online petition.
*Please encourage your friends and networks to sign our petition.
*Urge local charities, voluntary organisations, community organisations to support our online petition.
It is people power that can change things. Gary McKinnon isn’t a terrorist, he is a man with Asperger’s Syndrome who has admitted that he has done wrong by hacking into US computers – he will not be able to cope with the American penal system. This is why we are apealing for Gary to be tried in the UK.
Please come on board with us, we call upon autism charities and other charities in the United Kingdom to support our campaign and to join our online petition as partners.
