A Britishcomputer expert has lost his appeal against extradition to the
GaryMcKinnon was arrested in 2002 and charged by US prosecutors ofillegally accessing 97 computers - including
An appealby McKinnon to an earlier court order, backed by the British government, thathe be extradited was rejected by judges at the High court on Tuesday.
LordJustice Maurice Kay said: "Mr McKinnon's conduct was intentional andcalculated to influence and affect the
"As a result of his conduct, damage was caused to computers by impairingtheir integrity, availability and operation of programmes, systems, informationand data on the computers, rendering them unreliable," Kay said.
Execution threat
McKinnon'slawyers argued that sending him to the
BenCooper said he would now try to have the case heard in the House of Lords,
McKinnonand his lawyers expressed fears he could be held indefinitely without trial atthe
But the
McKinnon,whose hacking name was "Solo," has admitted gaining access to USgovernment computers but denies causing any damage.
PaulMcNulty, the US Attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, said "MrMcKinnon is charged with the biggest military computer hack of all time."
If foundguilty in the