A London court said the extradition of WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange to the U.S. on espionage charges could proceed. The government only has to agree to the extradition. However, Julian Assange can still appeal, delaying the legal process for some time.
Assange now has four weeks to give his account in writing to British Home Secretary Priti Patel. The Home Secretary must sign off on any extradition. If Ms. Patel decides to extradite him, Mr. Assange can challenge her decision in the British High Court. The appeal process could take another three to six months, said Nick Vamos, a lawyer at Peters & Peters Solicitors LLP.
In the US, Julian Assange is wanted on treason charges
Assange, 50, is wanted in the U.S. on 18 counts of conspiracy to disclose classified information and conspiracy to hack a military computer. The alleged offenses relate to WikiLeaks’ publication of a vast amount of classified material. In 2010 and 2011, he published documents that painted a grim picture of U.S. campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan and their aftermath.
Quelle: David G Silvers., CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Julian Assange has been held in the UK’s Belmarsh maximum security prison since 2019. He repeatedly describes his work and the broader WikiLeaks project as public interest journalism. Assange says his actions have exposed wrongdoing by the United States and other governments.
Last December, the U.S. government won a request to extradite Mr. Assange. In their ruling, Lord Chief Justice Ian Burnett and Lord Justice Tim Holroyde said Assange would not be held under the strictest maximum security conditions if extradited. This would then be sufficient to clear the way for extradition.
The U.K. Supreme Court last month declined to hear Assange’s appeal against his extradition on a narrow legal issue.
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