After dashing hopes of all those rooting for the Government to block the extradition of London's computer hacker Gary McKinnon, Home Secretary Alan Johnson has refused to do so, making it alright for the US authorities to take him away, something that could happen within a few weeks.

Truly upset by the ruling, Mr. McKinnon's mother, Janis Sharp has said that the ministers and authorities should "hang their heads in shame for this barbaric decision". The Home Secretary has, however, stuck to his grounds, stating that he could not block the extradition as there was no concrete evidence to support that the act would breach the hacker's human rights.

In a serious case of computer hacking, for which Mr. McKinnon faces a possible jail time of up-to 60 years, right after the 9/11 attacks, the Londoner hacked into the Pentagon's computers. In his defense, the hacker said that he was looking for evidence of UFOs.

Mr. McKinnon, who has Asperger's syndrome, and his family have led a high profile public campaign to block the extradition since the US authorities demanded that the hacker be handed over. Last month, Mr. Johnson gave them new hope when he agreed to study a new medical evidence in the case, something that did not last very long.

Mr. McKinnon has admitted to hacking into as many as 97 computers of the US Government, including NASA's and Pentagon's machines during 2001 and 2002.