Nasa hacker tells of extradition 'nightmare'

Published on Sunday 7 June 2009 22:07

A SCOTTISH computer hacker facing extradition to the US has spoken publicly for the first time in three years about his "living nightmare".

Speaking out on the eve of his last appeal against extradition, Glasgow-born Gary McKinnon said the experience had "fundamentally damaged" him.

Mr McKinnon, who has autism and lives in London, has accepted that his hacking into US military and Nasa computers constituted an offence under the UK's Computer Misuse Act 1990. He said he was only looking for UFOs.

A two-day judicial review of the extradition order at the High Court in London is due to start tomorrow, which will be Mr McKinnon's last hope of avoiding an American trial and a potential prison sentence lasting decades.

He said: "It is a living nightmare and it's hard to describe how I've changed physiologically and how it has fundamentally damaged me in many ways I don't even discuss with my own family."

His legal team are planning to present a case study of another American prisoner with autism, detailing the abuse and beatings he suffered because of his condition, in the hope this will persuade the judges to rethink the extradition.