Above Photo: nathanael tan/Flickr
The High Court has today (20 March 2018) decided not to grant certification on a point raised by the CPS in relation to the last month’s ruling preventing extradition of British-Finnish computer scientist Lauri Love to the United States. As a result, the appeal ruling of 5 February 2018 stands in full.
Lauri Love, who has diagnoses of Asperger syndrome, severe antibiotic-resistant eczema and major depression, had been facing indictments from three separate US federal court districts on allegations of his participation in online protest. If extradited, he faced a maximum sentence of 99 years imprisonment.
The CPS had previously conceded that, on the basis of the High Court’s ruling, there was no prospect of Lauri Love being extradited to the US.
Lauri Love, who received news of the High Court’s decision this morning, said:
The forum bar has now met its first successful test case. US detention and healthcare provision have been rightly shown to be unjust and oppressive. The era of the US Department of Justice as world police is over.
Naomi Colvin, Acting Director of the Courage Foundation, which has been assisting Lauri since his extradition began, said:
The Americans had already given up on their attempt to actually extradite Lauri but today’s decision means that the High Court ruling stands in full. As a result, there is now very little prospect of any British hacker ever finding themselves in the same position as Lauri Love or Gary McKinnon. Fifteen years of terrible public policy in which British hackers were left open to the vindictive instincts of US prosecutors has now been brought to an end.
In their ruling last month, the Lord Chief Justice and Mr Justice Ouseley, held that prosecuting Lauri Love in the United Kingdom would not be oppressive. We will cross that bridge when we come to it. The Courage Foundation will continue to support Lauri and his family until his legal situation is fully resolved.
