Justice Is Not Blind

I have noted before that there is a bias against being a right winger in the UK, that is not evident in being a left winger  ... this is more evident in the UK, than in Europe or the USA. In the UK there are around nine right-wing parties outside of the Conservative or UKIP parties, while there are around twenty nine left wing political parties outside of the Labour, Liberals and SNP. On both the far right and far left are supporters of extreme views .... that's a fact that by their nature they can't avoid.

However supporters of Stalinist or the Maoist creeds in the UK are not vilified to the point that they are banned or physically attacked when standing for office .... When Stalin killed millions upon millions in Russia in the 1930's, and again in the 1950's, we didn't purge the Communist party of Great Britain or vilify the supporters of this creed, in fact they actually thrived in our seats of learning and academia to the point that in the UK at least, the best spies the Soviets had, were recruited at Oxford or Cambridge universities by Communist lecturers ... to whit, Philby, Burgess, Blunt, and Maclean and others.

Now why am I rehashing this part of an earlier posting?

Well most of us can recall the case of Gary McKinnon, the UFO Pentagon hacker with Asperger's Syndrome, who when threatened with extradition to the US to stand trial for his crimes, was suddenly defended by every Left-wing lawyer, and millionaire socialist in the country - ranging from 'Sting' to 'Stephen Fry', and eventually the UK refused to extradite him. We also backed this up by saying that he wouldn't be prosecuted in the UK, for what the US had described the "biggest military computer hack of all time".

Only there is another 'Asperger Syndrome' criminal, I doubt you will have heard of him, his name is Michael Piggin, and he was arrested for allegedly planning to attack his old school in a Columbine style attack, as well as a Mosque and oddly, a cinema. He also has been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, and so one would expect that this diagnosis would be treated in the same way, and that the UK Crown Prosecution Service and Home Secretary would treat him in a similar manner to Gary McKinnon. But no, he is on trial, his mental condition not withstanding ....

So to recap, we have two men, both with the same mental condition, one, who has hacked the US military, but is deemed to be unable to be extradited, or stand trial for his alleged crimes due to the mental condition. The other man is on trial as I write this piece, despite his mental condition, and can expect a lengthy prison sentence if he (and his two co-defendents), are found guilty in the next few weeks.

Justice Not As Unbiased As We Thought?

It appears that his politics are a major factor, he is a supporter of far right politics and holds extreme views (with Swastikas adorning his bedroom), and he also supports the English Defence League .... now you might think that this would be taken as additional proof that his mental illness had affected his judgement, but that is seemingly not the case for Mr Piggin, who has no 'human rights' lawyers, nor any celebrity supporters batting on his behalf ..... not even any mental health campaigners.

Don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting that Mr Piggin not be tried, but rather so should Mr McKinnon, or it seems as though justice is not politically blind in the UK.

UPDATE 30/05/2014: Well I have to hold my hands up .... the Jury, who it seems, at least a third of  whom, may well have been thinking like me, that there was something wrong with this case coming to trial, failed to reach a verdict on the terrorism charges, although he was found guilty of possessing a knife (I assume that we can all get arrested for that .... just look in any kitchen), and perhaps more damningly, having parts for an improvised explosive device, for which he will be sentenced.

I repeat that personally, I think that Mr McKinnon should have been tried as well.