The British government on Friday ordered the extradition Leaking information founder Julian Assange traveled to the United States to face espionage charges – an important milestone, but not the end of a decades-long legal saga.
WikiLeaks said it would object to the order and had 14 days to file an appeal.
Interior Minister Priti Patel has signed an order allowing Assange to be extradited to the US, where he faces charges over WikiLeaks’ publication of a huge trove of classified documents.
The decision was given to Patel after a British court ruled in April that Assange could be sent to the US, where he faces trial on 17 counts of espionage and one count of using a computer. miscalculation. US prosecutors allege that Assange illegally aided US military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in stealing classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting their lives in danger. hazardous.
The Home Office said in a statement that “the UK courts did not find the extradition of Mr Assange to be oppressive, unfair or an abuse of process”, and so the government had to approve the extradition. degree.
“Nor do they see that extradition would be inconsistent with his human rights, including his right to a fair trial and his right to free speech, and that while in the US he would be treated appropriately. , including in regards to his health,” it said.
Advocates and lawyers for Assange, 50, argue that he is operating as a journalist and entitled to First Amendment free speech protections for publishing copies of documents exposing US military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. They argued that his case was politically motivated and that he could not get a fair trial in the US
“Today is not the end of the war. It’s just the beginning of a new legal battle,” said Stella Assange, Assange’s wife. She said the UK’s decision marked “a dark day for press freedom and for British democracy.”
“Julian did nothing wrong,” she said. “He did not commit a crime and is not a criminal. He’s a journalist and a publisher, and he’s being punished for doing his job.”
A British judge approved the extradition in April, leaving the final decision up to the government. The ruling comes after a lengthy legal battle to the UK Supreme Court.
A UK district court judge initially rejected the extradition request on the grounds that Assange was likely to commit suicide if held in harsh US prison conditions. US authorities later gave assurances that the WikiLeaks founder would not face severe treatment that his lawyers say would put his physical and mental health in jeopardy. hazardous. Those assurances led Britain’s Supreme Court and Supreme Court to overturn the lower court’s ruling.
Press organizations and human rights groups have called on Britain to refuse the extradition request. Assange’s lawyers say he could face 175 years in prison if he is convicted in the US, although US authorities have said any sentence could be much lower than that. there.
Amnesty International’s general secretary Agnes Callamard on Friday said the extradition of Assange “would put him at great risk and send a chilling message to journalists around the world”.
“If extradition does proceed, Amnesty International is deeply concerned that Assange faces a high risk of prolonged solitary confinement, which would violate the ban on torture or other ill-treatment, ” she said. “Diplomatic assurances given by the United States that Assange will not be in solitary confinement cannot be counted at face value in past history.”
Assange has been held at British high-security Belmarsh Prison in London since 2019, when he was arrested on bail in a separate legal battle. Before that, he spent seven years inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London avoiding extradition to Sweden to face rape and sexual assault charges.
Sweden dropped sex crime investigations in November 2019 because a lot of time has passed.
In March, Assange and his partner Stella Moris, who have two sons together, married in a prison ceremony.
© 2022 Canadian Press
