Lauri Love’s fight against extradition to the USA begins

Today, Edward Fitzgerald QC and Ben Cooper are representing Lauri Love in a two day extradition appeal. Mr Love faces extradition to the USA on cyber crime charges and will most likely serve a very long sentence in the Metropolitan Detention Centre (“MDC”) or Metropolitan Correctional Centre (“MCC”). In 2016, the District Judge ruled that Mr Love was at a real risk of suicide, both in pre-trial detention and in detention in the MDC or MCC. Mr Love suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, insomnia, clinical depression and extreme eczema.

Mr Love’s case has been widely compared to Gary McKinnon’s. In 2012, the then Home Secretary, Theresa May, withdrew her extradition order to the United States, stating ‘Mr McKinnon is accused of serious crimes. But there is also no doubt that he is seriously ill [...] He has Asperger's syndrome, and suffers from depressive illness. Mr McKinnon's extradition would give rise to such a high risk of him ending his life that a decision to extradite would be incompatible with Mr McKinnon's human rights." 

This case has been covered in the media