Today is Gary McKinnon's birthday. For NINE YEARS he has been subjected to the most atrocious injustice, an injustice permitted and presided over by the British government who continue to prevaricate and delay in keeping the promises they made to Gary, to his family, and to the electorate that this wrongful and unjust extradition will be stopped.
Last year, Home Secretary Theresa May adjourned the Judicial Review proceedings in order to review the medical evidence. That evidence, consisting of three unanimous and compelling expert medical opinions, was submitted to her last June, yet still she has failed to act to stop the extradition.
In November, she received - at her request - yet another assessment of Gary's mental state, from one of the Home Office's own recommended experts. This assessment, like all the others, concluded that owing to his Asperger's Syndrome, Gary will suffer severe psychological injury and will be at real and serious risk of suicide should the extradition go ahead. And still, the Home Secretary has not halted the extradition.
Instead, she is now seeking a fifth assessment - this time not by an expert, but by a psychiatrist who is entirely unqualified to assess suicide risk in persons with autistic spectrum conditions. This bizarre, stubborn, and unnecessary insistence, not only on yet further assessment, but on the appointment of a clinician with zero credibility to assess in these circumstances raises the simple question: Why?
A 9-year ordeal of terror against a harmless, vulnerable man for what was nothing more than a non-extraditable Summary Offence is simply not acceptable in a civilised society. And so, to underline this point, and to honour Gary on his birthday, I have made this simple gesture to the Home Office, courtesy of WHSmith:
And then inside, I wrote this:
If you feel as I do, perhaps you'll consider doing the same. A 9-year birthday card is easy to come by. I posted mine to:
Home Office
Direct Communications Unit
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
