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Hacker of US .gov Sites Appeals for Extradition

Gary McKinnon- the alleged hacker - got leave to appeal his extradition to the US, where he is facing prosecution for intruding into the systems of government.

He is 37 year old and belongs to West London and was arrested in 2002 after the US prosecutors filed charges against him for causing around $700,000 worth of damage and illegally using the 97 systems of government, which includes US Army, NASA, the Pentagon and Navy.

In the third week of October, the UK's highest court of appeal - House of Lords - granted the stay of extradition because of coercive attitude of plea bargain discussions with the US prosecuting authorities.

According to the news of ZDNet on October 15, 2007, McKinnon's solicitor Kaim Todner declared that sometime near New Year, McKinnon's appeal would be taken into notice.

Between November 2002 and April 2003, the Lords had authorized the appeal because of threats of US prosecutors, although the reasons for granting the appeal are not a matter of public concern.

As per the solicitor of McKinnon, the US authorities claimed that if McKinnon found guilty, he would be punished more severely and his attempts to extradite would be strongly opposed. Further, this is despite the fact that the authorities of the US have denied bringing such heavy pressures.

In April 2007, McKinnon lost his case in the Court of Appeal, but the lawyers said that the judges in the appeal court clearly left a hint for further appeal to the House of Lords. But at that time, the Court of Appeal held a low view of alleged coercion applied by US prosecutors to McKinnon, claiming that "it viewed with a degree of distaste the way in which the American authorities are alleged to have approached the plea bargain negotiations" with McKinnon.

According to the statement of ZDNe published in the first week of August 2007, one of the solicitors of McKinnon, Jeff Anderson, said that if the appeal in the House of Lords fails, they can apply in the European Court of Human Rights.

Interestingly, McKinnon has accepted the charges of hacking into the PC of government, but constantly denying the charges of causing any monetarily damage and saying that he was just surfing for some evidence of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO).

Related article: Hacker & Virus in MySpace

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