 "The 52-year-old Assange is being tried on 18 counts by US authorities in connection with the well-publicized disclosure by WikiLeaks of enormous amounts of classified diplomatic and military cables Image Courtesy Reuters")
After more than 13 years of legal battles in English courts, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will start what may be his final attempt on Tuesday to prevent his extradition from Britain to the United States.
The 52-year-old Assange is being tried on 18 counts by US authorities in connection with the well-publicized disclosure by WikiLeaks of enormous amounts of classified diplomatic and military cables.
They contend that his unlawful behavior has no justification and that the leaks put the lives of their operatives in danger. Many people who support Assange call him a journalist and an anti-establishment hero who is being persecuted for disclosing U.S. misdeeds and possibly committing war crimes.
After Assange’s legal battles started in 2010, he spent seven years hiding out in Ecuador’s London embassy before being taken into custody and imprisoned in 2019 for violating his bail terms. Since then, he has been held in a maximum-security jail in southeast London, where he even got married.
In 2022, Britain approved his extradition to the United States after a judge initially blocked it due to concerns that he would commit suicide if deported. This could be Assange’s last opportunity to prevent his extradition in the English courts. His wife Stella last week described the proceedings as a matter of life and death.
They will contend that Assange’s prosecution—which is the first time a publisher has been charged under the U.S. Espionage Act—is politically motivated and constitutes an illegal attack on free expression.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAmnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, media outlets that collaborated with WikiLeaks, and Australian lawmakers—among them Prime Minister Anthony Albanese—who last week voted in favor of a motion demanding his return to Australia are among his supporters.
Last year, Pope Francis even granted his wife an audience.
A full appeal hearing will be scheduled to reevaluate Assange’s challenge in the event that he is granted permission in the most recent case. His sole remaining option, should he lose, would be to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), where he has already done so while awaiting the London verdict.
The founder of WikiLeaks and Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, who passed away in prison on Friday while serving a three-decade sentence, were contrasted by Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton.
“I know exactly what it feels like to have a loved one unjustly incarcerated with no hope,” he told the BBC.
“To have them pass away, that’s what we live in fear of: that Julian will be lost to us, lost to the U.S. prison system or even die in jail in the UK.”
WikiLeaks gained notoriety in 2010 by releasing a U.S. military film of an Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad in 2007 that resulted in the deaths of twelve individuals.
Subsequently, it made public hundreds of secret classified files and diplomatic cables, which exposed the United States’ frequently harsh assessments of international leaders, ranging from Saudi Arabian royal family members to Russian President Vladimir Putin.