British Interior Minister Priti Patel ordered the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to face criminal charges on Friday, bringing an end to his long legal ordeal.
Assange is wanted by US authorities on 18 counts, including a charge of espionage, related to WikiLeaks’ publication of massive troves of sensitive US military records and diplomatic cables, which, according to Washington, endangered lives.
Assange’s supporters vowed to oppose his extradition to the United States.
Stella Assange, Assange’s wife, stated that “this is a bad day for journalistic freedom and British democracy.” “We have not reached the end of the road. We will fight against this. Stella, who wed an Australian publisher earlier this year, told reporters, “We’re going to pursue every available appeal channel.”
Assange’s attorney, Jen Robinson, urged US President Joe Biden to dismiss the accusations against her client and encouraged the Australian government to advocate for his release. She continued, “We will file an appeal with the British courts and, if required, the European Court of Human Rights.”
In this case, the UK courts have not determined that Mr. Assange’s extradition would be harsh, unjust, or an abuse of process,” the Home Office said in a statement.
Nor have they found that extradition would be incompatible with his human rights, including his right to a fair trial and freedom of expression, and that he will be treated correctly in the United States, especially about his health,” the statement continued.
Initially, a British judge determined that Assange should not be deported because, due to his mental health, he would be at risk of committing suicide if convicted and incarcerated in a maximum-security facility. On appeal, however, the conviction was overturned after the United States provided a package of assurances, including a promise that he may be sent to Australia to complete any sentence.
Patel’s judgment does not signal the end of Assange’s legal battle, which has been ongoing for almost a decade and might continue for many more months.
He may file an appeal with London’s High Court, which must approve any challenge. He may finally seek to take his case to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. If the appeal is denied, however, Assange must be extradited within 28 days.
Nick Vamos, the former head of extradition at Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service, stated that Assange would be able to use new evidence, such as his allegations that the CIA plotted to assassinate him, and challenge the extradition on the same grounds he originally argued, such as its political motivation.
The CIA refused to comment on his accusations.
“I believe he may have some success,” Vamos said, adding that the High Court frequently overturned extradition decisions.
In 2010, WikiLeaks uploaded a US military film depicting an attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad in 2007 that killed twelve people, including two Reuters journalists.
The subsequent release of hundreds of thousands of secret classified files and diplomatic cables was the greatest security breach of its sort in the history of the United States military.
US prosecutors and Western security authorities view Assange as a reckless adversary of the state whose activities put the lives of the agents listed in the leaked documents in jeopardy.
He and his supporters claim that he is being punished for embarrassing people in power and that he faces 175 years in jail if he is proven guilty, even though US attorneys have estimated a sentence of four to six years.
“Allowing Julian Assange to be extradited to the United States would place him in grave danger and send a frightening message to journalists worldwide,” said Amnesty International’s secretary-general, Agnes Callamard.
The legal saga began after 2010 when Sweden requested Assange’s extradition from the United Kingdom on sex crime charges. After losing the case in 2012, he escaped to the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he remained for seven years.
When he was taken out in April 2019, he was arrested for violating British bail restrictions, even though the Swedish case against him had been withdrawn. Since June 2019, he has fought extradition to the United States and has remained in jail.
During his tenure at the Ecuadorian embassy, he fathered two children with his now-wife, whom he married in March in a ceremony attended by only four guests, two official witnesses, and two guards at the Belmarsh high-security jail in London.
