INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The British government on Friday ordered the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to face spying charges, a
milestone - but not the end - of a decade-long legal saga sparked by his website’s publication of classified U.S
documents.WikiLeaks said it would challenge the order, and Assange’s lawyers have 14 days to lodge an appeal.“We’re not at the end of
the road here,” Assange’s wife, Stella Assange, said
“We’re going to fight this.”Julian Assange has battled in British courts for years to avoid being sent to the U.S., where he faces 17
charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse.American prosecutors say the Australian citizen helped U.S
Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting
lives at risk.To his supporters, Assange, 50, is a secrecy-busting journalist who exposed U.S
military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.A British court ruled in April that Assange could be sent to face trial in the U.S., sending the
government for a decision
Britain’s interior minister, Home Secretary Priti Patel, signed an order on Friday authorizing Assange’s extradition.The Home Office
said in a statement that the government had to approve his move to the U.S
courts have not found that it would be oppressive, unjust or an abuse of process to extradite Mr
Assange.”Legal experts say the case could take months or even years more to conclude.Assange’s lawyers said they would mount a new legal
“We will appeal this all the way, if necessary to the European Court of Human Rights,” attorney Jennifer Robinson said.Robinson asked
President Joe Biden to drop the charges brought against Assange during Donald Trump’s presidency, arguing they posed a “grave threat”
to free speech.Assange’s supporters and lawyers maintain he was acting as a journalist and is entitled to First Amendment protections of
They argue that the case is politically motivated, that he would face inhumane treatment and be unable to get a fair trial in the U.S.Silkie
Carlo, director of civil liberties group Big Brother Watch, said the British government’s “complicity in the political persecution of a
journalist simply for revealing uncomfortable truths to the public is appalling, wrong and shames our country.”Stella Assange, a lawyer
who married her husband in a prison ceremony in March, said the U.K
decision marked “a dark day for press freedom and for British democracy.”“Julian did nothing wrong,” she said
“He has committed no crime and is not a criminal
He is a journalist and a publisher, and he is being punished for doing his job.”Friday’s decision came after a legal battle that went
Supreme Court.A British district court judge initially rejected the extradition request on the grounds that Assange was likely to kill
himself if held under harsh U.S
authorities later provided assurances that the WikiLeaks founder wouldn’t face the severe treatment that his lawyers said would put his
physical and mental health at risk.Those assurances led Britain’s High Court and Supreme Court to overturn the lower court’s
ruling.Journalism organizations and human rights groups had called on Britain to refuse the extradition request
Assange’s lawyers say he could face up to 175 years in jail if he is convicted in the U.S., though American authorities have said any
sentence is likely to be much lower than that.Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard said Friday that extraditing Assange
“would put him at great risk and sends a chilling message to journalists the world over.”“If the extradition proceeds, Amnesty
International is extremely concerned that Assange faces a high risk of prolonged solitary confinement, which would violate the prohibition
on torture or other ill treatment,” she said.Assange remains in London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison, where he has been since he was
arrested in 2019 for skipping bail during a separate legal battle
Before that, he spent seven years inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden to face allegations of rape and
sexual assault.Sweden dropped the sex crimes investigations in November 2019 because so much time had elapsed, but British judges have kept
Assange in prison pending the outcome of the extradition case.Source: Associated Press-Agencies
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://adaderana.lk
