‘It’s been like waterboarding of the mind’ says hacker Gary McKinnon’s mother

SCOTTISH computer hacker Gary McKinnon’s ten-year battle against extradition to the United States has been like “waterboarding of the mind”, his mother has said.

Janis Sharp said the ups and downs of his fight were “so cruel” as she desperately hopes Home Secretary Theresa May blocks the extradition and ends his pain today.

The 46-year-old McKinnon, who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome – a high-functioning form of autism – admits hacking into US military computers but claims he was looking for evidence of UFOs.

Ms Sharp admitted that a Home Office report saying McKinnon was very likely to attempt to kill himself if extradited, along with a US defence expert’s comments that hackers should be recruited rather than prosecuted, had raised her hopes.

But she added she was “still scared” ahead of today’s decision. It’s like waterboarding of the mind – you’re elated you’re down, it’s so cruel,” Ms Sharp said yesterday. “I’m still scared and will be waking up at 3am tomorrow.”

For her son, “this is the most dreadful time ever”, Ms Sharp said. “It’s been so hard. People don’t realise it’s the only thing on your mind, there’s nothing else in your life. He’s lost ten years of his youth.”

Despite being a keen musician, he has not picked up any instrument in years and, as he was banned from going online, he was “not allowed any outlet”.

McKinnon is waiting with “anxiety, but hope” that the Home Secretary will halt his extradition, his lawyer Karen Todner said. “It has been a long 11-year battle to fight this extradition and we wait with anxiety, but hope, that the Home Secretary will uphold the promises previously made by Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg,” she said.

McKinnon was arrested in 2002, and then again in 2005, before an order for his extradition was made in July 2006 under the 2003 Extradition Act.

That triggered three successive applications for judicial review and questions about the fairness of the UK-US extradition treaty, which critics claim is “one-sided”.

However, an independent review of the UK’s extradition arrangements by Sir Scott Baker last year found the current treaty between the US and the UK was both balanced and fair.

But the government is under pressure to ignore its findings after MPs called on ministers to bring forward new laws and attempt to change the UK-US extradition treaty. In a House of Commons debate in December, Tory MP Dominic Raab said: “Gary McKinnon should not be treated like some gangland mobster or al-Qaeda mastermind.”

If Mrs May decides to allow extradition to go ahead, McKinnon’s lawyers are expected to launch a last-ditch application for judicial review to challenge the decision.