by Since 2019, Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has been held in a high-security prison in southeast London while his lawyers fight a US extradition order. Now, that particular battle may be coming to an end.
On Tuesday, Assange’s case returned to a British court for a two-day hearing that will determine whether he has exhausted his right to appeal within the United Kingdom and whether he could be one step closer to being sent to the United States.
Assange did not appear in court and refused to attend virtually due to health concerns, according to his lawyers, but dozens of protesters gathered outside, demanding his release.
In the United States, Assange, 52, faces charges under the Espionage Act of 1917 that could amount to a sentence of up to 175 years in prison, his lawyers say, although US government lawyers had previously said it was more. He will likely be sentenced to between four and six years. Here’s what you need to know about the long legal battle over his extradition and what could happen next.
Assange has been in a British prison for almost five years. This is why.
The US charges against Assange date back to events in 2010, when WikiLeaks published tens of thousands of secret military and diplomatic documents leaked by Chelsea Manning, a military intelligence analyst.
The files exposed hidden diplomatic dealings and included revelations about civilian deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
In May 2019, during the Trump presidency, the US Department of Justice charged Assange with violating the Espionage Act by soliciting and publishing secret government information, charges that raise profound First Amendment issues. (The Obama administration had considered bringing charges against Assange, but decided not to do so because of the threat to press freedom.)
While Assange has been fighting efforts 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 an investigation into unrelated allegations of sexual misconduct and rape that were later dismissed. She remained at the embassy for the next seven years.
In April 2019, he was expelled from the embassy, where he had become an unwanted guest, and immediately arrested after jumping bail. Weeks later, the US Department of Justice released an indictment charging Assange with 18 counts of violating the Espionage Act, participating in a criminal hacking conspiracy, and encouraging hackers to steal material. secret. (Ms. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013, but she was released in 2017, when President Obama commuted her sentence.)
This hearing is the “beginning of the end” of extradition challenges in UK courts, Assange’s team says.
Assange’s extradition order was initially denied by a British judge who ruled in January 2021 that Assange was at risk of suicide if sent to a US prison. Britain’s High Court later overturned that decision after US officials gave assurances about his treatment. Priti Patel, then Britain’s home secretary, approved the extradition request in 2022.
But legal challenges continued. Assange’s legal team had a previous request to appeal Patel’s order rejected by a single judge. Now two High Court judges will hear his final appeal bid in a British court.
Assange’s legal team was expected to present its case on Tuesday, followed by the US Justice Department’s legal team. The judges will then consider the case, which could take hours, days or weeks, before announcing her decision.
And there are some potential results. The judges could allow Assange to appeal her extradition order, in which case a full appeal hearing would be scheduled, opening the door to a new decision on her extradition.
Or, if Assange’s appeal request is rejected, he could be quickly put on a plane bound for the United States, his legal team said. But his lawyers have vowed to challenge his extradition before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.
In theory, that could block his extradition from Britain until the case is heard in Strasbourg because Britain is obliged to follow the court’s ruling as a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights.
The process has taken its toll on Assange’s health. And human rights groups expressed fears about what will come next.
Stella Assange, Mr. Assange’s wife, said during a press conference last week that her husband, who has been suffering from depression, has aged prematurely during his years in prison, and she fears for his physical and mental health.
“His life is at risk every day he remains in prison and, if he is extradited, he will die,” he said. The couple, who began a relationship while Assange was living in the Ecuadorian Embassy, have two children and regularly visit Assange in prison.
“Julián and I protect the children. Frankly, they don’t know,” Assange said of the accusation against her. “And I don’t think it’s fair for them to know what’s going on.”
Alice Jill Edwards, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, has urged Britain to halt Assange’s extradition, citing fears that if he is extradited he would risk treatment equivalent to torture or other forms of punishment. . In a statement earlier this month, she noted the risks that he could face “prolonged solitary confinement, despite his precarious state of mental health, and receive a potentially disproportionate sentence.”
The Australian government has also called for Assange, an Australian citizen, to be sent to his home country, where its parliament last week passed a motion calling for his release. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had discussed the matter in a meeting last fall with President Biden, and on Thursday Albanese told the Australian parliament that “it is appropriate that we set out our strong view that those countries must take into account the need to “Let this be concluded.”
Human rights groups such as Amnesty International and press freedom advocates including Reporters Without Borders have long called for the US charges against Assange to be dropped and the extradition order to be cancelled.
Rebecca Vincent, international campaigns director for Reporters Without Borders, said in a statement before the hearing that the United States could withdraw the extradition request or consider Assange’s time in Belmarsh prison as time served.
“None of this is inevitable,” Vincent said in a statement before the hearing. “No one should suffer such treatment for publishing information of public interest.”
