Tom Cheshire and Alexander J. Martin report for Sky News: “Hacking suspect Lauri Love wins appeal against extradition.”

NAOMI COLVIN, NATHAN FULLER, nathan.fuller at couragefound.org, @couragefound
Colvin and Fuller are with the Courage Foundation, which supports whistleblowers and which has helped lead the campaign against Love’s extradition. Fuller is formerly with the Manning Support Network.

Courage Foundation just released a statement: “In a major victory for Lauri Love, the High Court has approved his appeal and quashed his extradition. As Courage Case Director Naomi Colvin said, ‘This ruling is a massive victory for free expression online, for the fair treatment of neurodiverse people and for those of us who have drawn attention to the dire treatment of hackers and information activists in the United States.’

“The High Court judges disagreed with the District Court on whether the forum bar should apply in Lauri’s case and on the prospect of proper medical care to treat the likely risk of suicide should Lauri have been sent to a U.S. prison. …

“The judges felt that the District Judge leaned too heavily on testimony to the effect that no prisoner commits suicide while on suicide watch, the U.S. prison’s term for 24/7 monitoring of at-risk inmates. The High Court argued, ‘Suicide watch is not a form of treatment; there is no evidence that treatment would or could be made available on suicide watch for the very conditions which suicide watch itself exacerbates.’

“This ruling marks the first successful use of the forum bar, created in the wake of Gary McKinnon’s case, to protect a UK citizen from being unduly extradited to the United States. It also throws much-needed light on the U.S. prison conditions, so lacking in adequate medical care as to put suicidal inmates at further risk.

“Finally, the judges noted that it is now on the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] to endeavor to try Lauri Love in the United Kingdom. The CPS has 14 days to find new arguments with which to appeal this ruling. Courage will continue to support Lauri Love and his family until his situation is resolved.”