Sun28Sep - London - Extradition demo

[xmasdale]

The demonstration is against the extradition of Gary McKinnon to the US under the new extradition treaty, enected by the UK government giving the US the right to extradite anyone from the UK to stand trial in the US without being obliged to present evidence in a UK court.

Any of us could be extradited in this manner on the decision of the US authorities without evidence being presented.

The treaty does not afford UK authorities the same right to extradite anyone from the US.

The London Autistic Rights Movement is organising an demonstration in support of recently diagnosed Asperger's syndrome sufferer Gary McKinnon, who is facing imminent extradition to the United States of America, rather than facing a UK court, for his alleged computer hacking activities over 6 years ago.
Date: Sunday 28th September

Start Time: 4 pm

Location:

Embassy of the United States of America,
24 Grosvenor Square
London
W1A 2LQ

[exact rallying point To Be Announced later]

Location Maps:

Map on the US Embassy website

Streemap.co.uk map

Public Transport:

Nearest Tube stations are Marble Arch and Bond Street
Bus routes 148 and 14A along Park Lane

Press and Media Contacts: [To Be Announced]

Use the comments below or email us here at info@FreeGary.org.uk (using our PGP Encryption Key if you know how) and we will pass on media enquiries to the organisers

More details will be available soon.

[xmasdale]

Hi Roderick, Anya & Co.



Duncan Campbell from the Guardian is planning to run another story re-Gary.



Nadine Montagnac is painting Gary's portrait and it is to be included in an exhibition she's taking part in at The London institute of contemporary Arts in London on the 6th of October . Nadine has Aspergers and runs an Aspergers/Autism womens support group. She has previously painted a portrait of the Queen and I believe she met the Queen in that context.



All proceeds will go to Professor Simon Baron-Cohen's autism research centre and Nadine is going to try and highlight Gary's situation among Autism professionals around the world attending the conference and the exhibition.



Nadine is also a musician and will be performing in the London concert for Autism which Jools Holland is presenting on the 5th of October, as part of a fundraising concert for Autism research charity.



Nadine also wanted Gary to perform his music there but she understands that he's too stressed right now.



I'm also writing a letter that I hope lots of well known people will sign. Tony Ben is one of the few Politicians that has answered my emails and he has told me that he fully supports Gary, so I'm sure he'll sign the letter and I'm sure Jools Holland will too.



I know that Menzies Campbell (Liberal) and Dominic Grieve (Conservative) are very opposed to the current Extradition treaty; I don't know which Labour MP's oppose the treaty; I think Diane Abott is one.

Mr May and Alan Simpson were very helpful but I think Alan Simpson's resigned now.



The poet and campaigner Benjamin Zephaniah from Birmingham also supports Gary and wrote to me after Tony Ben made him aware of Gary's situation. www.benjaminzephaniah.com

Gary's Barrister has also brought Gary's case to the attention of Baroness Helena Kennedy QC and I think she'll sign.



I'll have to try and find out which MP's are supportive re-Autism/Aspergers.

What I find the most unacceptable is that the Extradition treaty wasn't even thought of when Gary was first arrested but it was later initiated and then made retrospective in order to arrest Gary and a few others without the U.S having to provide any Prima Facie Evidence. (The U.S waited two years to arrest Gary, two years after the U.S indicted Gary and two years after his initial arrest by the U.K police.)

A recent letter of response from the Home Office states that the treaty did not come into force until 2007. So how on Earth could a treaty that had not yet come into force, be made retrospective several years prior? Someone told me that this is against British Law?



Gary's Barrister wants to book a room at the House of Commons or around the time of the Tory Conference so that he can persuade MP's to sign; it's a shame we missed the Labour and the Liberal conferences. The Hull Green Party have been very supportive, so perhaps theleader of the Green Party might sign the letter.

Gordon Brown said in his speech at the conference, that every child should be given a computer and that Labour are the party of the Family and that they will do that.

Perhaps we should ask Gordon Brown to assure us that no children or adults with Aspergers will later be extradited to the US if they become obsessive re-computers and can just trespass/walk right in as the security is literally non existent. It is very common for people with Aspergers to be obsessed with computers and even hacking.



I'll try and think of more things to try and help to persuade our government to refuse to surrender Gary for Extradition to the U.S.

Gary never travels and has a fear of travelling and even of using the Tube. He has never left the U.K since he was a child. So to Extradite him to stand trial in a country where he has no friends or family would be extraordinarily cruel.



It seems odd that we haven't heard anything from the Home Office or the U.S government yet.

Gary thinks they might be waiting until after the U.S elections as they don't want the info (re- the fact that the U.S computers had no passwords and no Firewalls) to come out during this time.



Thanks again to Everyone



Details Of Protest to Stop Gary Being Extradited To The U.S.A on this link: http://freegary.org.uk/



Best Wishes



Janis

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/22/hacking.usa?commen tpage=3&commentposted=1