Julian Assange’s extradition to U.S. a step closer after judge’s order
The order, which Assange has the right to appeal, heads to the desk of British Home Secretary Priti Patel, who will have the final say on whether to grant the extradition. The
order follows the British Supreme Court’s refusal to grant Assange permission last month to appeal against a lower court’s ruling that he could be extradited to the United States.
Described by one of Assange’s lawyers as a “brief but significant moment in the case,” the development Wednesday is the latest blow for Assange, who faces trial under the Espionage Act in the United States. The 50-year-old Australian faces 18 U.S. criminal charges stemming from WikiLeaks’ publishing of thousands of diplomatic cables and classified files in 2010. Assange would stand trial in federal court in Northern Virginia.
If convicted, Assange faces up to 175 years in prison. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Assange’s attorneys have four weeks to file submissions to Patel before she is expected to rule on the extradition, according to the AP. Mark Summers, one of Assange’s lawyers, told the court that they planned to submit “serious submissions” to Patel, according to the Guardian.
If Patel signs the extradition order, Assange could try to challenge the ruling through legal review — a process that involves a judge’s looking at the legitimacy of a public body’s decision.
U.S. prosecutors allege that Assange helped hack into classified information and published thousands of pages of records and cables about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, thus endangering the lives of allies.
Assange’s supporters say he was acting as an investigative journalist who uncovered a trove of damning material about American actions abroad. They say the extradition and prosecution will undermine press freedoms in the United States.
The court battles involving Assange and his potential extradition have been well documented. After a magistrates’ court ruled last year that extraditing Assange would be “oppressive” for his mental health, the U.S. government appealed, suggesting that the psychiatrist who examined him was biased and that Assange’s mental health was not a barrier to extradition.
The British High Court sided with the Americans in December, and Judge Timothy Holroyde said the assurances offered over the conditions of Assange’s incarceration in the United States were both “sufficient” and “solemn undertakings,” promised from one government to another. Assange’s defense attorneys maintained that the U.S. assurances could not be trusted.
Amid the legal back-and-forth, Assange and his long-term partner, Stella Moris, were married inside Belmarsh Prison last month. Moris, the mother of his two children and his former lawyer, denounced the High Court’s move in December.
“How can it be fair, how can it be right, how can it be possible, to extradite Julian to the very country which plotted to kill him?” Moris said at the time, referring to a Yahoo News report that members of the Trump administration had discussed kidnapping Assange or having him assassinated.
On Wednesday, Assange’s supporters rallied outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court and continued to demand that he be freed.
William Booth and Rachel Weiner contributed to this report.