UK court authorizes extradition of Julian Assange to US
A court in London has formally approved the extradition of Julian Assange to the US, now only the British Home Secretary has to agree. Assange faces life imprisonment.
The US judiciary wants to put the 50-year-old on trial for allegations of espionage. He faces up to 175 years in prison if convicted. He is accused of having stolen and published secret material from US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan together with whistleblower Chelsea Manning, thereby endangering the lives of US informants. His supporters, on the other hand, see him as an investigative journalist who has brought war crimes to light and who is now to be made an example of.
The legal dispute over a possible extradition of Assange to the USA has been going on for around two years. The High Court gave the go-ahead. The Supreme Court, the highest British court, dismissed an appeal as inadmissible.
The organization Reporters Without Borders called for the release of the Wikileaks founder. “We are calling on the Home Secretary to act in accordance with Britain’s commitment to defending press freedom and to refuse extradition,” the organization’s London representative, Rebecca Vincent, told the German Press Agency. Assange, who has been imprisoned for more than three years, must be released from prison immediately. The case of the 50-year-old had once again become a political decision.
