Wikileaks founder
Assange’s request for an extradition appeal denied
Julian Assange has been in Belmarsh high-security prison in London since his arrest in April 2019. photo
© Dominic Lipinski/PA/dpa
Julian Assange has been fighting for years against being handed over to the US judiciary, which accuses him of espionage. Now he has suffered another legal defeat.
The founder of the whistleblowing platform Wikileaks, Julian Assange, has reportedly suffered another setback in the legal battle over his planned extradition to the US.
As the British newspaper “The Guardian” reported, citing Assange’s circle of supporters, the London High Court rejected Assange’s request to appeal against the British government’s extradition order. The danger that the 51-year-old will actually be handed over to the United States is “now more real than ever before,” said a statement from the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Thursday.
His wife, Stella Assange, tweeted that the Australian-born would make another application to the High Court in the coming week. This will be examined by two judges at a public hearing. “We remain optimistic that we will prevail and Julian will not be extradited to the United States,” she wrote. Otherwise, according to the RSF, the only option would be to go to the European Court of Human Rights. But it is questionable whether a decision there could prevent his extradition.
If convicted, he faces 175 years in prison
The legal tug of war over Assange has been going on for years. The US judiciary wants to put him on trial for allegations of espionage. If convicted, he faces up to 175 years in prison. Assange is accused of having, together with whistleblower Chelsea Manning, stolen and published classified material from US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, thereby endangering the lives of US informants. Supporters see Assange as a journalist who exposed war crimes.
Assange has been held in Belmarsh Maximum Security Prison in London since his arrest in April 2019. Before that, he had evaded the law enforcement authorities for several years in the Ecuadorian embassy in the British capital. The Australian government is now calling for an end to the prosecution of Assange.