McKinnon extradition sets a dangerous precedent

AFTER reading your story (McKinnon appeal date, H&H December 4) I contacted my MP to ask him if the extradition treaties signed by this Labour Government have been properly debated in Parliament . Extraditing Gary McKinnon (pictured left) could cause a ve

AFTER reading your story (McKinnon appeal date, H&H December 4) I contacted my MP to ask him if the extradition treaties signed by this Labour Government have been properly debated in Parliament .

Extraditing Gary McKinnon (pictured left) could cause a very bad legal precedent. Our government is saying that as the damage was done in America and not in the UK, he should be extradited.

According to that logic, if one makes a threatening or obscene phone call or sends an obscene or threatening letter or email to America or Europe one should be extradited to face the consequences.

It would go against the principles of British Justice to send a British Subject to be tried abroad under a different legal system.

If we are suspected of breaking the law we have always had a right to be tried by a jury of our fellow citizens and to be sentenced in the UK.

The government is taking away that right by signing extradition treaties and sending our citizens for trial abroad.

Gary McKinnon should either have a UK trial, or no trial and the same should apply to any other British citizen who breaks the law on British soil.

David Shamash

(address supplied)