The Assange case returns to court: “the beginning of the end

LONDON – Since 2019, Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has been held in a maximum security prison in southeast London while his lawyers fight a US extradition order.

Now, that particular battle may be coming to an end.

Assange’s case will return to a British court on Tuesday and Wednesday for a two-day hearing that will determine whether he has exhausted his right to appeal in the UK and whether he might be a step closer to being sent to the US.

In the United States, Assange, 52, faces charges under the Espionage Act 1917 His lawyers said he could face a sentence of up to 175 years in prison, although US government lawyers had previously said he was more likely to be sentenced to four to six years.

Here’s what you need to know about the long legal battle over his extradition and what could happen next.

Assange almost has five years in a British prison.

Here because.

The American accusations against Assange date back to 2010, when WikiLeaks published tens of thousands of secret military and diplomatic documents leaked by Chelsea Manningan Army intelligence analyst.

The files revealed hidden diplomatic ties and included disclosures about them civilian deaths in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In May 2019, during Trump’s presidency, the US Department of Justice charged Assange with violating the Espionage Act by soliciting and publishing classified government information, charges that raise profound security questions. First Amendment.

(The Obama administration had considered charging Assange but decided against it because of the threat to press freedom.)

Although Assange has been fighting attempts to extradite him from Britain to face US charges for years, his life in limbo in London goes back even further.

In June 2012, Assange entered the Ecuadorian embassy in London to escape extradition to Sweden, where he faced investigations into unrelated allegations of sexual misconduct and rape which were later withdrawn.

He remained at the embassy for the next seven years.

Expelled

In April 2019 he was expelled from the embassy, ​​where he had become an unwanted guest, and was immediately arrested for skipping bail.

Weeks later, the US Department of Justice filed an indictment against Assange 18 charges for violating the Espionage Act, participating in a hacking conspiracy, and encouraging hackers to steal classified material.

(Manning was later sentenced to 35 years in prison, but was released after seven years when President Barack Obama sentence commuted).

This hearing is “the beginning of the end” of extradition appeals to UK courts, Assange’s team says.

Assange’s extradition order was initially denied by a British judge who ruled in January 2021 that Assange would risk suicide if sent to a US prison.

Britain’s Supreme Court later overturned that decision after receiving assurances from American officials about his treatment.

Priti Patel, then Britain’s Home Secretary, approved the extradition request in 2022.

But the legal challenges continued.

Assange’s legal team saw an earlier request to appeal Patel’s order rejected by a single judge.

Now two High Court judges will hear his latest appeal in a British court.

Assange’s legal team will present the case on Tuesday, followed by the US Department of Justice’s legal team.

The judges will then review the case – which could take hours, days or weeks – before announcing their decision.

And there are some potential outcomes.

The judges could allow Assange to appeal his extradition order, in which case a full appeal hearing would be scheduled, opening the door to a new decision on his extradition.

Or, if Assange’s appeal request is denied, he could quickly be 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.

In theory, this could block his extradition from Britain until the case is heard in Strasbourg, because Britain is obliged to respect the court’s ruling as a signatory to the agreement. European Convention on Human Rights.

Effects

The trial took a toll on Assange’s health.

And human rights groups have expressed fear about what might come next.

Stella Assange, Assange’s wife, said during a press conference last week that her husband is suffering depressionhe has aged prematurely during his years in prison and fears for his mental and physical health.

“His life is in danger every day he spends in prison and, if he is extradited, he will die,” she said.

The couple, who began a relationship while Julian Assange was living in the Ecuadorian embassy, he has two sonsand regularly visits Julian Assange in prison.

“Julian and I protect children. They don’t know it frankly,” Stella Assange said of the accusation against him.

“And I don’t think it’s fair for them to know what’s going on.”

Alice Jill Edwards, the UN special rapporteur on torture, urged Britain to halt Assange’s extradition, citing fears that if extradited he would risk treatment equivalent to torture or other forms of punishment.

In a statement earlier this month, he flagged the risks that he could face “prolonged solitary confinement, despite his precarious state of mental health, and of potentially receiving a disproportionate sentence.”

The Australian government has also called for Assange, an Australian citizen, to be sent to his home country, where Parliament last week passed a motion calling for his release.

The prime minister Antonio Albanese He said he discussed the issue in a meeting last fall with the president Joe Bidenand Albanese told the Australian Parliament on Thursday that “it is appropriate to express our firm belief that these countries take into account the need to conclude this agreement”.

Human rights groups such as International amnesty and defenders of press freedom, included Reporters without bordersThey have long called for the US charges against Assange to be dropped and for the extradition order to be cancelled.

Rebecca Vincent, international campaigns director for Reporters Without Borders, said before the hearing that the United States could withdraw the extradition request or treat Assange’s time in Belmarsh prison as served.

“None of this is inevitable,” Vincent said in a statement before the hearing.

“No one should suffer such treatment for publishing information in the public interest.”

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