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This article titled “Gary McKinnon gets MPs’ backing in extradition debate” was written by Allegra Stratton, political correspondent, for The Guardian on Tuesday 6th December 2011 00.42 UTC

MPs have urged the government to improve safeguards for British citizens wanted by authorities overseas by reforming extradition laws, indicating the strength of political feeling in support of Gary McKinnon, who has been battling for six years against a US extradition bid to face hacking charges.

The Commons agreed without a vote to call on ministers to bring forward new laws and attempt to change the UK-US extradition treaty and the European arrest warrant.

A sizeable group of MPs feels the extradition treaty with the US is unbalanced. They point out that the UK needs to show evidence or “probable cause” to a US court if it wishes to extradite a suspect whereas the US only needs to have “reasonable suspicion” to seek extradition.

Esher and Walton Conservative MP Dominic Raab, who secured the debate on the issue, said the motion “is not about abolishing extradition, which is vital to international efforts in relation to law enforcement; it’s about whether, in taking the fight to the terrorists and the serious criminals after 9/11, the pendulum swung too far the other way”.

An independent review of the UK-US extradition has been conducted by former court of appeal judge Sir Scott Baker. It concluded there was no reason to believe it was operating unfairly. However, reflecting parliamentary and public anxiety, the home secretary Theresa May is currently looking at the issue.

The US has stepped up its demand for the extradition of alleged hacker McKinnon. The 45-year-old, who his been diagnosed with Asperger’s, stands accused of hacking into the computers of Nasa and the Pentagon from his home in north London, but he has claimed he did so mistakenly and was actually searching for “little green men”.

The US ambassador, Louis Susman, appeared in parliament last week and told MPs he believed the treaty was working well.

In the debate, Raab said: “At root it is about the injustice in dispatching someone with Asperger’s syndrome hundreds of miles from home on allegations of computer hacking when he was apparently searching for unidentified flying objects. Gary McKinnon should not be treated like some gangland mobster or al-Qaida mastermind.”

Former home secretary David Blunkett told MPs he had held private meetings with US Department of Justice officials to persuade the authorities to let McKinnon stay in the UK while he faced court proceedings and to ask whether or not McKinnon could serve any sentence in the UK if convicted.

Blunkett told the BBC it was more important to find out “whether it is possible, using modern technology and video conferencing, for the trial to take place on US soil, but for Gary to remain in Britain and for him to serve his sentence here”.

The parliamentary motion, proposed by Raab, had support from former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell and the chair of the home affairs select committee, Labour MP Keith Vaz. The issue won parliamentary time after it was accepted by the backbench business committee.

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