Wikileaks: Assange’s hearing begins, he risks extradition to the US for espionage. The wife: “It’s a question of life and death”
The crucial hearing on the extradition of has begun in London Julian Assange. The WikiLeaks founder could be extradited from the UK to the US, where he faces espionage charges and faces a 175-year prison sentence. Assange did not appear in court for health reasons, said his lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald. Present instead was Assange’s wife, Stella, who thanked the crowd of protesters who have been demanding freedom for the Australian journalist since this morning. The hearing will last two days and the verdict could arrive tomorrow.
Assange, 52 years old, he has been detained since 2019 in a maximum security prison in south-east London and has been continuing his legal battle for years to avoid extradition to the USA. A battle which could soon be put to an end. In fact, the London court will have to decide whether Assange still has right to appeal in the UK or if it is to be heard in the American courts. In America Assange faces charges under the Espionage Act of 1917 that could amount to a sentence of up to 175 years in prison, although US government lawyers had said he was more likely to be sentenced to four to six years.
The US charges against Assange date back to 2010, when WikiLeaks published tens of thousands of leaked secret military and diplomatic documents by Chelsea Manning, a US Army intelligence analyst sentenced to 35 years in prison but then ‘pardoned’ by Barack Obama after seven years in prison. The files revealed hidden diplomatic ties and revelations about civilian deaths in the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In May 2019, during the Trump presidency, the US Department of Justice charged Assange with violating the Espionage Act by publishing classified government information, charges that raise profound First Amendment questions. The Obama administration had considered charging Assange but decided against it because of the threat to press freedom.
But Assange has been in London since long before 2019: in June 2012, he entered the British capital’s Ecuadorian embassy to escape extradition to Sweden, where he was accused of sexual misconduct and rape, charges that were later dropped. His stay at the Ecuadorian embassy lasted seven years, but in April 2019 Ecuador decided to expel him and a few weeks later the US Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against Assange on 18 counts related to violation of the Espionage Act. In case of defeat, Assange will be forced to leave the United Kingdom and will be transferred to the USA: the only obstacle to his transfer could be the European Court of Human Rights, where a request has already been presented for block the extradition.