British Prime Minister David Cameron paid an official visit to the United States this week. Cameron was given the red carpet treatment on Tuesday when he arrived in the U.S. His three-day visit included a ride on Air Force One, taking in a March Madness basketball game and a hot dog with President Obama, and a swanky, star-studded dinner at the White House. But where business was concerned, Cameron discussed the extradition treaty between his country and the U.S. that has caused more than a decade of grief for UK UFO hacker Gary McKinnon.
The Scottish computer hacker was charged by the U.S. with the “biggest military computer hack of all time” in 2001 and 2002 after looking for information about UFOs and extraterrestrials in NASA’s computers, and has been fighting extradition ever since. His mother, Janis Sharp, has been fighting non-stop on his behalf. She has met with David Cameron multiple times, and even wrote an open letter to President Obama, “Pleading with him to end ten years of torment,” according to the Daily Mail.
The Welwyn Hatfield Times reports that, following the recent meeting, Cameron stated, “I raised this issue with President Obama today and we had a good discussion . . . We will be following this up with further talks between our teams.”
The McKinnon case has fueled criticism of the UK’s extradition agreement with the U.S. Many in the UK feel that the treaty is unfairly weighted against UK citizens. Sharp hopes the latest meeting between Obama and Cameron will lead to McKinnon being tried in the UK.
