14 DAY TRIAL // Andrew MacKinlay, Labour member of the Parliament for Thurrock, Essex, has decided that it's time to call it quits at the next elections, after his fellow Labour MPs failed to vote for a review of the 2003 Extradition Treaty in the House of Commons, despite previously signing motions in support of British hacker Gary McKinnon.
According to The Daily Mail, Mr. MacKinlay, who has been an MP for the last 17 years, says that he is "disillusioned with Parliament" and its inability to stand up to the ministers and that this has been the last straw.
"I was really frustrated by the vote last week. Many of my colleagues had expressed their sympathy for Gary McKinnon. But when the crunch came, they just went tribal and followed the diktats of the party. Their concept of Parliament is totally different to mine," Mr. MacKinlay comments for The Daily Mail.
Gary McKinnon, aka Solo, is a British hacker arrested in 2002 after being accused by the U.S. government of hacking into numerous military systems. The Home Office has agreed to extradite the hacker, who faces a sentence of 60 years in prison if trialled and found guilty in the U.S.
McKinnon, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, has admitted that he accessed computers at NASA and the Pentagon without authorization, but motived his actions by saying that he was looking for UFO and alternative energy technology that he was convinced the U.S. government was hiding from its citizens.
In his fight against extradition throughout the years, the hacker has gathered massive support from the public and even high-profile individuals, such as Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler, guitarist Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, City of London Mayor Boris Johnson, the Director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University, Prof. Simon Baron-Cohen, as well as many politicians and members of the Parliament, including Andrew MacKinlay.
Janis Sharp, Gary McKinnon's mother, says about MacKinlay's decision that, "It's incredible, wonderful news and this man has my complete and total respect. I think it's tremendous that he has the strength to stand up and do what he believes is right."
McKinnon has one last chance to avoid being sent to face the charges across the Atlantic. The High Court is set to rule on a final extradition appeal at the end of the next week.