The computer activist Lauri Love will discover on Friday whether he is to be sent to the United States to face charges of hacking into the US military agencies, in the first test case since the extradition law was tightened by Theresa May.
The 31-year-old, who has Asperger’s syndrome, told Westminster magistrates court this summer that he may take his own life if he is forcibly removed to an American prison for trial.
The decision will be the first substantive test of the “forum bar”, introduced by May when she was home secretary. This allows courts to block extradition if it is in the interests of justice to have a person tried in Britain instead.
May’s reforms also narrowed the home secretary’s discretion to intervene in such highly charged cases. Introduced after a protracted political row over the case of the British hacker Gary McKinnon, the measures leave it up to the courts to decide whether risks to a suspect’s health should prevent extradition.
Love, who lives at home with his parents in Newmarket, Suffolk, is alleged to have stolen vast amounts of data from US agencies including the Federal Reserve, the Department of Defence, Nasa and the FBI in a series of online attacks in 2012 and 2013.
His lawyers say he could receive a sentence of up to 99 years in prison if found guilty. Love and his family want him to face justice in the UK rather than the US, which he said “coerces” people into pleading guilty to get reduced sentences.
The US application to extradite him was heard in June. Giving evidence then, Love said that due to the pressure of plea-bargaining in the US justice system, more than 95% of cases did not end in trials but in guilty pleas.
“I don’t entertain any prospects of justice in America,” he said. “If any crimes were committed, they were committed in the UK … I can’t imagine anything worse than being in a US prison.”
On Friday afternoon the judge Nina Tempia will decide whether Love should be extradited to face the possibility of three separate trials in different American courts.
His supporters say he would not be granted bail if transferred to the US. The electrical engineering student also suffers from severe eczema and depression.
The magistrates court hearing is also expected to set a date for Love’s case against the National Crime Agency over its retention of computer equipment it seized from him.
Love’s legal team is led by Ben Cooper of Doughty Street Chambers, who also acted for McKinnon during his extradition battle.
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