British court rules man accused of hacking FBI can't be extradited to U.S.
LONDON — Judges at Britain's High Court ruled Monday that a man accused of hacking into U.S. government computers cannot be extradited from the United Kingdom to stand trial.
Lauri Love was arrested in Suffolk, eastern England, in 2013 and is charged with hacking into NASA, FBI, Federal Reserve and Department of Defense computers.
Love’s lawyers argued the 33-year-old, who has Asperger’s and depression, was at risk of committing suicide if extradited and should be tried in England. They said Love would face up to 99 years in prison and $9 million in fines if he was extradited and found guilty.
The chief justice, Lord Burnett, said in the ruling, "it would not be oppressive to prosecute Mr. Love in England for the offenses alleged against him. Far from it ... Much of Mr. Love’s argument was based on the contention that this is indeed where he should be prosecuted.”
Love, speaking outside the court in London, said he was thankful for the decision.
“The reason I’ve gone through this ordeal is not just to save myself from being kidnapped and locked up for 99 years in a country I’ve never visited, but it’s to set a precedent whereby this will not happen to other people in the future,” he said.
“If there is suspected criminality then it will be tried here in the U.K. and America will not try to exercise exorbitant extra-territorial jurisdiction,” Love added.
Love, who has dual British and Finnish citizenship, is accused of hacking U.S. government computers in 2012 and 2013 as part of a campaign of cyberattacks to protest the suicide of computer programmer Aaron Swartz.
Swartz, 26, was found dead in his New York apartment in 2013. He faced up to 35 years in jail and $1 million in fines after he was indicted with hacking into the JSTOR digital library and downloading millions of articles.
Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service, acting for the U.S., said it would examine the ruling in Love’s case before deciding whether to launch an appeal.