Since 2019, Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has been held in a high-security prison in southeast London while his lawyers fight a US extradition order. Now this particular battle may be coming to an end.
On Tuesday, Mr. Assange’s case was sent back to a British court for a two-day hearing that will determine whether he has exhausted his right to appeal in the United Kingdom and whether he could be about to be removed in the USA. At the end of the hearing, it was still unclear when a decision would be made.
Mr. Assange did not appear in court, refusing to attend virtually due to health concerns, according to his lawyers, but dozens of protesters gathered outside to demand his release.
In the United States, Assange, 52, faces charges under the Espionage Act of 1917 that could amount to a sentence of up to 175 years in prison, his lawyers say, although lawyers for U.S. government officials have previously said he was more likely to receive a sentence of four to six years. Here’s what you need to know about the lengthy legal battle over his extradition and what could happen next.
Assange has been held in a British prison for almost five years. Here’s why.
The US accusations against Mr Assange date back to the events of 2010, when WikiLeaks published tens of thousands of secret military and diplomatic documents leaked by Chelsea Manning, a military intelligence analyst.
The files exposed hidden diplomatic dealings and contained revelations about civilian deaths in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In May 2019, under President Trump, the US Department of Justice charged Mr. Assange with violating the Espionage Act by soliciting and publishing secret government information, charges that raise profound questions related to the First Amendment. (The Obama administration had considered indicting Mr. Assange but decided against it because of the threat to press freedom.)
While Mr Assange has fought for years to extradite him from Britain to face US charges, his life in limbo in London goes back even further.
In June 2012, Mr. Assange entered the Ecuadorian embassy in London to escape extradition to Sweden, where he was investigated over unrelated allegations of sexual misconduct and rape, which were subsequently abandoned. He remained at the embassy for the next seven years.
Mr. Assange’s legal team presented its case on Tuesday, followed by the US Justice Department’s legal team on Wednesday.
Edward Fitzgerald, Mr Assange’s lawyer, told judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson that “Mr Assange was reporting serious criminality” by publishing the leaked documents. He also told the hearing that under the Trump administration, CIA officials discussed plans to kill or kidnap Mr. Assange while he was sheltering in the Ecuadorian embassy in London – a an accusation reported by Yahoo News in 2021 and denied at the time by Trump. administration.
It was the first time the accusation had been raised at a hearing on Mr Assange’s extradition, and his legal team said it had evidence of the discussions. US government lawyers argued that Mr Assange would receive a fair and public trial and said the publication of the leaks had put lives at risk.
The judges are now considering these arguments before announcing their decision, which could come hours, days or weeks from now.
And there are some potential outcomes. The judges could allow Mr. Assange to appeal his extradition decision, in which case a full appeal hearing would be scheduled, opening the door to a new decision on his extradition.
Or, if Mr. Assange’s appeal request is rejected, he could be quickly put on a plane to the United States, his legal team said. But his lawyers have vowed to challenge his extradition at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.
Theoretically, this could block his extradition from Britain until the case is heard in Strasbourg, because Britain is obliged to follow the court’s judgment as a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights. ‘man.
The process took a toll on Mr. Assange’s health. And rights groups have expressed fears about what happens next.
Stella Assange, Mr. Assange’s wife, told a news briefing last week that her husband, who suffered from depression, had aged prematurely during his years in prison and that she feared for his health mental and physical.
“His life is in danger every day he remains in prison, and if he is extradited, he will die,” she said. The couple, who began a relationship while Mr Assange was living in the Ecuadorian embassy, have two children and regularly visit Mr Assange in prison.
“Julian and I protect the children. Frankly, they don’t know,” Ms. Assange said of the indictment against him. “And I don’t think it’s fair for them to know what’s going on.”
Alice Jill Edwards, the United Nations special rapporteur on torture, urged Britain to suspend Mr Assange’s extradition, citing fears that if he were extradited he risked treatment amounting to torture. torture or other forms of punishment. In a statement earlier this month, she highlighted the risks he could face “prolonged solitary confinement, despite his precarious mental health state, and a potentially disproportionate sentence”.
The Australian government has also called for Mr. Assange, an Australian citizen, to be returned to his home country, where its parliament last week passed a motion calling for his release. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he discussed the issue in a meeting last fall with President Biden, and on Thursday Mr Albanese told the Australian Parliament “it is appropriate for us to express our very strong opinion that these countries must take into account the it is necessary for this to be concluded.
Rights groups like Amnesty International and press freedom advocates including Reporters Without Borders have long called for the U.S. charges against Mr. Assange to be dropped and the extradition order reversed.
Rebecca Vincent, international campaigns director for Reporters Without Borders, said in a statement before the hearing that the United States could drop the extradition request or consider Mr. Assange’s stay in Belmarsh prison as time served. .
“None of this is inevitable,” Ms. Vincent said in a statement before the hearing. “No one should suffer such treatment for publishing information in the public interest.”