Julian Assange. Photo: AFP 2023/Daniel Leal.
American prosecutors are seeking to put Assange on trial on espionage charges regarding WikiLeaks’s release of classified documents on the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The High Court of Justice in London ruled in favor of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Tuesday, allowing him to continue to challenge the decision on his extradition to the United States in UK courts.
The court, in particular, ruled that:
• Assange will not be extradited immediately;
• The US has three weeks to give “satisfactory assurances”, namely that the WikiLeaks founder will face a fair trial and that his extradition will not amount to a death sentence;
• If assurances are not given, the court will grant leave to appeal without a further hearing;
• If assurances are provided, the court will allow the parties an opportunity to make further submissions before it makes a final decision.
Assange’s wife has, meanwhile, called on the US to drop the charges against her husband and close the case rather than provide the guarantees that the court asked for.
Since April 2019, Assange, 52, has been held in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison while he faces prosecution in the US under the Espionage Act for obtaining classified information and disclosing it in the public domain.
Th espionage charges against him revolve around Assange publishing thousands of classified documents concerning Washington’s alleged military crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. They were provided by then-US Army private and whistleblower Chelsea (born Bradley) Manning.
If convicted, the WikiLeaks founder could face 175 years in prison. In December 2022, he appealed to the European Court of Human Rights to fight his extradition.
WikiLeaks was founded by Assange on October 4, 2006, but rose to prominence in 2010 when it began publishing large-scale leaks of classified government information.
(Sputnik)
