LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange begins what could be his last chance to stop his extradition from Britain to the United States on Tuesday (Feb 20) after more than 13 years battling the authorities in the English courts.
US prosecutors are seeking to put Assange, 52, on trial on 18 counts relating to WikiLeaks’ high-profile release of vast troves of confidential US military records and diplomatic cables.
They argue the leaks imperilled the lives of their agents and there is no excuse for his criminality. Assange’s many supporters hail him as an anti-establishment hero and a journalist, who is being persecuted for exposing US wrongdoing and committing alleged war crimes.
Assange’s legal battles began in 2010, and he subsequently spent seven years holed up in Ecuador’s embassy in London before he was dragged out and jailed in 2019 for breaching bail conditions. He has been held in a maximum-security jail in southeast London ever since, even getting married there.
Britain finally approved his extradition to the US in 2022 after a judge initially blocked it because concerns about his mental health meant he would be at risk of suicide if deported.
His lawyers will try to overturn that approval at a two-day hearing in front of two judges at London’s High Court in what could be his last chance to stop his extradition in the English courts. His wife Stella last week described it as a matter of life and death.
They will argue that Assange’s prosecution is politically motivated and marks an impermissible attack on free speech, as the first time a publisher has been charged under the US Espionage Act.
His supporters include Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, media organisations which worked with WikiLeaks and Australian politicians, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who last week voted in favour of a motion calling for his return to Australia.
Pope Francis even granted his wife an audience last year.
