Love was indicted in US courts in 2013 after it emerged that he had hacked into servers at the Federal Reserve, NASA, Missile Defence Agency and the US Army as part of hacker group known as Anonymous.
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The ruling was issued at Westminster Magistrate’s Court, where earlier this year Love won a case against Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA), which was demanding the 31-year-old disclose passwords to his encrypted computers.
The mother of British hacker Gary McKinnon, who narrowly avoided extradition to the U.S. on mental health grounds, warned Love would not survive life in an American prison.
Judge Tempia said Mr Love’s rights under article eight of the European Convention on Human Rights – the right to a private and family life – were “clearly engaged”.
While the judge said she was aware that Love has physical and mental health issues, she was satisfied that his needs could be met by USA prison medical facilities.
Like Love, McKinnon suffers from Asperger’s syndrome and depression and was considered a suicide risk if faced with a prison sentence.
Judge Nina Tempia told Lauri Love on Friday that he can appeal the judgment.
The Courage Foundation, which is running Love’s defense fund, said his legal team will appeal the ruling.
The charges allege that Love, working with others, hacked into the computer networks of US government agencies “in order to steal and then publicly disseminate confidential information found on the networks, including what is referred to as personally identifiable information”, the ruling said.
“I don’t believe it”, his father said in court.
Love himself has said that he fears a sentence in a USA prison could lead to a mental breakdown or even suicide.
He told the crowd: “If you have come for justice then you have missed it”.
But Judge Tempia ruled the case should be tried in the United States, where victims were said to have been targeted by Mr Love.
The judge’s decision must be ratified by Britain’s Home Secretary (interior minister).
“I don’t entertain any prospects of justice in America”.
He said he thought the United States government was “taking [its] embarrassment out” on his client. Supporters of Love stormed out of the courthouse, shouting “kangaroo court!”.
The case was the first major test of the “forum bar”, revised by then-Home Secretary Theresa May following the McKinnon case in 2013 to give the United Kingdom more oversight in extradition cases. McKinnon eventually won his battle against extradition to the United States after Theresa May, who was home secretary at the time, stepped in to block the extradition proceedings, claiming it would be, “incompatible with Mr McKinnon’s human rights”.
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This is a very disappointing ruling, not just for Lauri and his family, but for everyone who was angry about what happened to Gary McKinnon.
