The first time I met Janis was outside the Home Office, protesting against the threatened extradition of her son, Gary McKinnon to the USA. It was a freezing cold Tuesday in December– too cold for snow – yet people had travelled from far and wide to join the protest in person. MPs too of all stripes, including the future Deputy PM, took time out to brave the bitter cold that day in support of Janis’s fight for justice for her son. It was and is a testament to the qualities of this exceptional woman that Gary’s case became and remains so much in the public eye, and that the shameless attempts of the US prosecutors, and even our very own HM Government, to exaggerate the allegations and distort the facts have failed.
It was seeing Janis some months before, outside the High Court, venting with utmost dignity her righteous anger at the latest indefensible failure of the British judicial system to deliver justice to her son, when the name of Gary McKinnon first registered with me. It was only then, seven years after Gary’s arrest, that I first became really aware that there was something very seriously amiss in this case. It wasn’t the first time either that the courts had failed him, as the Home Office were unwittingly keen to reveal when I wrote to them. Throughout the lengthy extradition proceedings and the appeals, at every turn the courts had failed to deliver judgements consistent with the facts, or consistent with any notion of justice at all. The judgement in 2009 was only the latest in a despicable and still ongoing catalogue of failure.
And yet, unerringly, for almost a decade now, Janis has continued with steadfast and unfailing determination to stand up to the vengeful Goliath behind this affront to justice, and to a British government too feeble or too inhuman to protect even its most vulnerable citizens from such abuse. To do this for a decade in the face of such prolonged and unrelenting trauma is a remarkable feat of endurance and strength.
Today is Janis’s birthday, her tenth since this ordeal began, and I would like to take this opportunity to celebrate a remarkable, inspiring woman. In never giving up, in fighting with a mother’s courage for her son, Janis is moving mountains armed only with the truth and a thirst for justice. The personal is political, good guys can win, and love conquers all.
Dear Janis, I send you love and good wishes for a happy birthday. May all your wishes come true, so that you and Gary and all the family can finally have your lives back, as you so deserve.
Happy birthday, our beloved Janis, your friends salute you.
It was seeing Janis some months before, outside the High Court, venting with utmost dignity her righteous anger at the latest indefensible failure of the British judicial system to deliver justice to her son, when the name of Gary McKinnon first registered with me. It was only then, seven years after Gary’s arrest, that I first became really aware that there was something very seriously amiss in this case. It wasn’t the first time either that the courts had failed him, as the Home Office were unwittingly keen to reveal when I wrote to them. Throughout the lengthy extradition proceedings and the appeals, at every turn the courts had failed to deliver judgements consistent with the facts, or consistent with any notion of justice at all. The judgement in 2009 was only the latest in a despicable and still ongoing catalogue of failure.
And yet, unerringly, for almost a decade now, Janis has continued with steadfast and unfailing determination to stand up to the vengeful Goliath behind this affront to justice, and to a British government too feeble or too inhuman to protect even its most vulnerable citizens from such abuse. To do this for a decade in the face of such prolonged and unrelenting trauma is a remarkable feat of endurance and strength.
Today is Janis’s birthday, her tenth since this ordeal began, and I would like to take this opportunity to celebrate a remarkable, inspiring woman. In never giving up, in fighting with a mother’s courage for her son, Janis is moving mountains armed only with the truth and a thirst for justice. The personal is political, good guys can win, and love conquers all.
Dear Janis, I send you love and good wishes for a happy birthday. May all your wishes come true, so that you and Gary and all the family can finally have your lives back, as you so deserve.
Happy birthday, our beloved Janis, your friends salute you.
