Foreign Affairs
Alleged UK Hacker Avoids Extradition To US By Threatening To Kill Himself
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The U.S. won’t be able to try a U.K. hacker accused of stealing information from the Department of Defense, the U.S. Army, and others after a London High Court ruled to block his extradition.
Lauri Love, 32, argued he was mentally unfit to travel to the U.S. for trial, citing his Asperger’s syndrome and a depressive illness, BBC News reported Monday. Love allegedly hacked the DOD, Army, FBI, NASA, and the Federal Reserve in 2012 and 2013, stealing massive amounts of data. He faced charges in New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. Love’s lawyers argued that an extradition would have been “unjust and oppressive,” and that Love probably would have killed himself if forced to go to the U.S.
“We accept that the evidence shows that the fact of extradition would bring on severe depression, and that Mr Love would probably be determined to commit suicide, here or in America,” the court ruled.
Love and others in the court room met the decision with cheers, according to ABC News.
“This decision is important for the appropriate administration of criminal justice and also for the humanitarian accommodation of people whose brains work differently,” Love said.
Despite the merciful ruling, the High Court’s ruling specified that Love could still face charges in the U.K., though none have yet been filed. The court recommended that the U.K. “must now bend its endeavors to his prosecution, with the assistance to be expected from the authorities in the United States, recognizing the gravity of the allegations in this case, and the harm done to the victims.”
The U.S. now has two weeks to submit an appeal to the decision. The Justice Department did not respond in time for publication when The Daily Caller News Foundation asked whether it would submit an appeal.
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