Thursday, 31st December 2009
Hypocracy in cases of British suspects
Dear Sir,
I find it extraordinary that UK Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis has complained bitterly to the Chinese authorities over the execution of convicted drug smuggler Akmal Shaikh because he allegedly “had mental health problems”. Ivan Lewis claimed “the execution of Mr Shaikh was totally unacceptable and that China had failed in its basic human rights responsibilities in this case, in particular that China's court had not considered the representations made about Mr Shaikh's mental condition.”
Strange then that in the case of computer hacker Gary McKinnon, who is known to be mentally ill with Asperger’s syndrome, Ivan Lewis and his Home Office colleagues have steadfastly ignored all representations about his mental condition and insisted on his deportation to the US, where he could face life imprisonment for trying to find evidence of UFOs on the Pentagon’s computer system.
There is a strong smell of hypocrisy about this Labour government.
Yours faithfully
Struan Stevenson MEP
