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The British government has ordered the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to face espionage charges. WikiLeaks said it would appeal the decision.
The UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel, signed the extradition order on Friday, June 16th. This comes after a British court ruled in April that Assange could be sent to the US over the publication of a large number of confidential documents by WikiLeaks more than a decade ago.
The Home Office statement said the UK courts ruled that Assange’s extradition was not unfair and that it was not an abuse of justice.
“It has not been established that extradition would be incompatible with his human rights, including his right to a fair trial and freedom of expression, and that in the United States he would be treated properly, including in matters related to his health ”.
The ruling marks a key moment in Assange’s years-long battle to avoid trial in the US, though not necessarily the end of the story. Assange has 14 days to appeal the decision.
The United States has asked British authorities to extradite Assange so that he can stand trial on 17 counts of espionage and one count of computer misconduct. U.S. prosecutors say Assange illegally assisted U.S. military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in stealing classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later released, endangering lives.
“Today is not the end of the matter. “It’s just the beginning of a new legal battle,” said Stella Assange, Assange’s wife. She said the UK decision marked “a black day for freedom of the press and for British democracy”.
“Julian did nothing wrong,” she said. “He did not commit any crime and he is not a criminal. “He is a journalist and publisher and is being punished for doing his job.”
A British judge upheld the extradition in April, leaving the final decision to the British Government. The decision came after a legal battle that was reviewed up to the UK High Court.
Media organizations and human rights groups have called on Britain to reject the extradition request.
Supporters and lawyers of Assange, 50, argue that he was acting as a journalist and has the right to defend freedom of speech from the First Amendment to publishing documents exposing the US military’s wrongdoings in Iraq and Afghanistan. They argue that his case is politically motivated.
Assange’s lawyers say he could face up to 175 years in prison if sentenced in the US, although US authorities have said any sentence is likely to be much lower than that.
Assange has been held in a high-security prison in London since 2019, when he was arrested for circumventing parole during a separate legal case. Prior to that, he spent seven years inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden, to face charges of rape and sexual assault.
Sweden abandoned the investigation in November 2019, after the legal deadline for the case had passed.
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