Noxious silence on treatment of Manning
- The Guardian, Tuesday 15 March 2011
- Article history
What is remarkable about PJ Crowley's expression of disagreement with the treatment of Bradley Manning (Report, 12 March) is that he has not been joined by others from the US government. In the diplomatic, intelligence and military services, there is considerable dissent from the policies of the White House, specifically, from its continuation of the violations of the US constitution and international norms of civil and human rights begun by the preceding administration. Given what these persons say to their families and friends, one would expect a few more to come forward and break a silence which is increasingly noxious.
Norman Birnbaum
Washington DC
• You report the resignation of PJ Crowley following his description of the conditions under which Bradley Manning is detained (Report, 14 March). Those conditions, imposed on an unconvicted prisoner who is also a British citizen, have included solitary confinement, repeated waking, enforced sleeping positions and being required every day to parade naked in his cell. Under the pretext of suicide risk – apparently denied by the prison psychologist – his glasses and clothes have at times been confiscated. President Obama has now said he has been "reassured" by the Pentagon that Manning's confinement is appropriate. Manning is accused of passing the US "embassy tapes" to WikiLeaks.
Here in the UK, the US is seeking extradition of Gary McKinnon on charges of prejudicing US national security by hacking into Pentagon computers. Prison sentences of up to 60 years have been mentioned. There are many factors in McKinnon's case – his state of health and the unbalanced nature of the extradition treaty among them – but the treatment of Manning must surely mean there can now be no further question of his being delivered into US custody.
Roger Hallam
London
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
Letters: Noxious silence on treatment of Manning | World news | The Guardian
Refuse this extradition | Duncan Campbell | Comment is free | The Guardian
Refuse this extradition
Newly released evidence of hacker Gary McKinnon's Asperger's must surely persuade parliament to protect him
- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 March 2011 13.59 GMT
- Article history
Gary McKinnon with his mother, Janis Sharp, who has revealed details of his condition that may be germane to his extradition. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian
Extradition, extradition, extradition. The attention being paid to the attempts made by the Swedish government to extradite Julian Assange and what is happening to Bradley Manning in Virginia has inevitably obscured another battle being fought out behind the scenes, that of Gary McKinnon, the hacker with Asperger's syndrome who left rude messages in the Pentagon's computer system a decade ago.
Every member of both houses of parliament should by now have received a letter containing fresh details of McKinnon's medical history and that of close members of his family. The decision to make public this intimate side of his life has been taken because McKinnon's family now feel that there is a real possibility the government may bow to repeated requests from the United States and allow the extradition.
What MPs and members of the House of Lords will learn is that McKinnon's mental problems were first noted back in 1983, when he was only 17. When he was diagnosed three years ago as suffering from Asperger's syndrome, suggestions were made in some quarters that this was a convenient way for him to avoid being extradited. This new evidence – which will form part of a debate in the Lords, initiated by Lord Maginnis, on March 23 – gives the lie to that scepticism.
In the letter McKinnon's mother, Janis Sharp, writes: "On 10 February 1983 we were compelled to take my son to see a neurologist because of our grave concerns regarding the sudden deterioration in Gary's mental health and the loss of his intellectual faculties, leading us to fear that Gary may have a brain tumour." She goes on to spell out the family's painful medical history.
She had taken the decision to go public with the family's many problems because she feels that MPs and members of the House of Lords need all the ammunition available as McKinnon runs out of legal options to fight extradition.
To her credit, Theresa May, the home secretary, stayed the extradition process once the coalition government took office. She is, according to the Home Office, "looking afresh" at the medical evidence, and is asking McKinnon to submit to a further examination – which he has agreed to, provided the examiner is an expert in Asperger's syndrome.
May then has to make what may be a speedy decision as to whether allowing extradition would be a breach of McKinnon's human rights. What politicians may want to digest is the assessment made by Professor Declan Murphy – an expert in Asperger's and autism and a psychiatrist regularly used by the Home Office – that "[Gary] now has a fixed autistic-like idea, which is currently unshakable, that his best outcome is to take his own life".
Thanks to WikiLeaks, it has emerged that Gordon Brown, when prime minister, approached the US ambassador in the UK, Louis Susman, on McKinnon's behalf. Brown's reasonable suggestion – that McKinnon would plead guilty to hacking offences but would serve any sentence in the UK – was then snubbed by a secretary of state who this week has been lecturing Middle Eastern countries on tolerance and humanity.
It is perfectly possible for the United Kingdom to refuse to grant an extradition request. Life will go on. Last July Switzerland refused an American request for the extradition of the film director Roman Polanksi, who was convicted of a far more serious crime than computer hacking, and so far Hillary Clinton has not instituted a no-fly zone over Geneva.
Coincidentally, this month the National Archives released official and previously censored documents about UFOs. It was McKinnon's belief in the existence of UFOs that sent him on his weird and wonderful hacking mission through the computer systems of Nasa and the Pentagon. The Ministry of Defence documents show this was something that even quite senior government figures around the world were concerned about, although many "flying saucer" sightings have turned out to be pranks or misunderstandings.
When confidential government documents are released in 30 years, detailing discussions about a computer hacker with Asperger's syndrome who did no harm beyond embarrassment to the American military, we must hope that future generations see that our ministers stood up for decency and common sense, and did not bow to demands for an ignoble extradition.