Julian Assange may be extradited to US, UK High Court says

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The High Court of the United Kingdom has approved the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States. The ruling overturns a lower UK court ruling that blocked extradition on the grounds that US imprisonment threatened Assange’s mental health and increased his risk of suicide.

The US government has now successfully appealed this ruling by offering a number of assurances to UK judges. These include assurances that Assange will not be held in a high-security “supermax” prison during the provisional period or if he is convicted (unless he “commits a future act which renders him liable to such conditions of detention ”) and that the United States will allow Assange to serve a final sentence in his native Australia, if he so chooses.

As reported by Sky News, Assange’s fiancee Stella Moris said: “We will appeal this decision as soon as possible.” Moris said the decision was a “serious miscarriage of justice”.

“How can it be fair […] to extradite Julien to the very country which was plotting to kill him?

“How can he be fair, how can he be fair, how is it possible, to extradite Julian to the very country that plotted to kill him?” Moris said, referring to reports earlier this year that the CIA and the Trump administration explored the possibility of kidnapping or murdering Assange in 2017.

Assange has been charged by US prosecutors with 18 counts, including 17 counts of espionage and one count of computer abuse. He is accused of conspiring to hack US military computers in order to post confidential military and diplomatic documents on WikiLeaks. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison, although the US government says the actual sentence will be between four and six years.

The documents published by WikiLeaks exposed the misdeeds of the United States in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. These include the so-called “collateral murder” video, which showed US helicopter pilots in Baghdad killing a group of civilians, including two Reuters journalists.

Groups such as Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International have called on the United States to drop the charges against Assange, saying Assange’s work is legitimate journalism.

“Julian Assange’s publication of materials disclosed in the course of his work with Wikileaks should not be punishable as this activity reflects the conduct investigative journalists regularly undertake in their professional capacity,” Amnesty said. “Prosecuting Julian Assange on these charges could have a chilling effect on the right to freedom of expression, causing journalists to censor themselves for fear of prosecution.

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