14 DAY TRIAL // Both Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler, have expressed their support for British Pentagon and NASA hacker Gary McKinnon. The singer condemns the efforts of the U.S. authorities to extradite the Londoner who faces 70 years in prison.
Gary "SOLO" McKinnon is a British 42-year-old hacker diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, who is being accused of breaking into around 90 computer systems belonging to the Pentagon, NASA and other U.S. government agencies during 2001 and 2002.
McKinnon has been arrested in 2002 by the British Police and faces extradition to the U.S. to stand trial for his computer crimes. According to his own account, he has hacked into the systems in order to search for UFO evidence, but denies the U.S. authorities' claims to have caused any damage to them.
The hacker's lawyers have found ways to avoid extradition for years and Sting is just the latest addition to a long list of celebrities and members of the Parliament who have declared their support for Gary McKinnon. Others high profile individuals that have officially backed up the Brit include the Director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University, Prof. Simon Baron-Cohen and London's Mayor, Boris Johnson.
"It’s a travesty of human rights that Gary McKinnon finds himself in this dreadful situation," Sting commented for the Mail on Sunday. "The British Government is prepared to hand over this vulnerable man without reviewing the evidence," he added.
The Police front-man also expressed concerns over McKinnon's mental health situation. "The US response in relation to the true nature of Gary’s crime is disproportionate in the extreme. Gary is even contemplating suicide because of his fear of incarceration as a terrorist in a US jail," the former leader of The Police warned.
Garry McKinnon has been denied a UK trial by the British Crown Prosecution Service, which has refused to bring charges against the hacker under the Computer Misuse Act. A conviction in UK would have most likely put an end to extradition proceedings. However, "SOLO" has one more chance of avoiding being shipped to the U.S. The High Court has granted him a judicial review of the Home Secretary's extradition decision, based on his Asperger's diagnosis.