The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, played what was perhaps his last resort, Tuesday February 20 and Wednesday February 21, in London, where the High Court examined an appeal request concerning the extradition procedure made by the United States. United. For two days, and while demonstrators massed outside the British courts, the judges listened to the arguments of his lawyers and American counsel. Their decision on whether or not to grant a final appeal hearing on this case is expected in the coming weeks.
The Australian whistleblower spent seven years secluded in the Ecuadorian embassy before being arrested by British police in 2019, as part of rape and sexual assault proceedings in Sweden, and has been fighting the request ever since extradition request made by the United States. He is being prosecuted on American soil for having distributed, from 2010, with his WikiLeaks site, hundreds of thousands of classified American documents, which notably revealed the heavy toll of the war in Iraq. Publications which were made in partnership with numerous international media, including The world.
An endless legal procedure
The indictment issued by the American courts against Julian Assange is a unique case in the United States, since he is, among other things, prosecuted under the Espionage Act, a very harsh text targeting the disclosure of classified information but which had never, until then, targeted journalists. Mr. Assange faces up to 175 years in prison.
This week’s hearings were the last card the whistleblower’s lawyers have to block the extradition request. By winning, the WikiLeaks founder’s camp would gain the right to a new appeal hearing to contest his transfer to the United States, after which extradition is still possible. If this happens, Julian Assange will still be able to lodge an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights, however, underlines his support committee.
At first instance, in January 2021, British justice refused extradition, citing the state of psychological health of the WikiLeaks founder and the difficult detention conditions that awaited him across the Atlantic, but without attacking the action in substance. in justice.
Almost a year later, this first decision was overturned by the High Court of Justice, which relied on a series of guarantees issued by the American authorities. They, among other things, promised that Mr. Assange would be properly treated in detention and would not be incarcerated in the high-security ADX center in Colorado, where detainees are very isolated. The extradition request was then approved by the British courts, then by the Minister of the Interior at the timePriti Patel.
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