Supporters of Julian Assange hail him as an anti-establishment hero and journalist.
London:
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Tuesday began his last chance to block extradition from Britain to the United States after more than 13 years of fighting authorities in British courts.
U.S. prosecutors are seeking trial of Assange, 52, on 18 counts related to WikiLeaks’ high-profile leak of a trove of classified U.S. military records and diplomatic cables.
They believe the leak endangered their agent’s life and there is no excuse for his criminal conduct. Many of Assange’s supporters hail him as an anti-establishment hero and journalist who has been persecuted for exposing U.S. wrongdoing and alleged war crimes.
Assange’s legal battle began in 2010, and he spent seven years holed up inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London before being hauled out of prison in 2019 for breaching bail conditions. He has since been held in a high-security prison in south-east London and even had his wedding ceremony there.
Britain eventually approved his extradition to the United States in 2022 after a judge initially blocked it over concerns that his mental health meant he would risk suicide if deported.
His lawyers will hold a two-day hearing before two judges at London’s High Court to try to overturn the approval, in what could be his last chance to block extradition in British courts. His wife Stella last week described it as a matter of life and death.
They argue that Assange’s prosecution is politically motivated and marks an impermissible attack on free speech, marking the first time a publisher has been charged under the U.S. Espionage Act.
His supporters include Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, media organizations working with WikiLeaks and Australian politicians, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who last week voted for a motion calling for his return to Australia .
Pope Francis even received his wife last year.
‘He will die’
If Assange is granted leave in the latest case, a full appeal hearing will be held to consider his challenge again. If he loses, his only remaining option is to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and await a ruling in London.
Stella Assange spoke last week and said they would apply to the European Court of Human Rights for an emergency injunction if necessary. She said her husband would not survive if he was extradited.
“His health was deteriorating, both physically and mentally,” she said. “Every day he spends in prison his life is in danger – and if he is extradited, he will die.”
Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton compared the WikiLeaks founder to Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny, who was sentenced to three years in prison on Friday passed away.
“I know exactly what it feels like to have a loved one unjustly imprisoned with no hope,” he told the BBC. “To have them die, that’s the fear we live with: that Julian will lose us, lose the American prison system, and even Die in a British prison.”
WikiLeaks first rose to prominence in 2010 when it released a U.S. military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed more than a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff.
It then released thousands of secret classified documents and diplomatic cables that revealed highly critical U.S. assessments of world leaders from Russian President Vladimir Putin to members of the Saudi royal family.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
