The UK home secretary has said that Julian Assange can be extradited According to the UK home secretary, Julian Assange could be extradited. The American authorities are looking for Mr. Assange in connection with the leaking of information in 2010 and 2011.
Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, has had his request to be extradited to the United States granted by Priti Patel, the home secretary of the United Kingdom.
The UK home secretary has said that Julian Assange can be extradited
According to the Home Office, Mr. Assange has until April 11th to file an appeal on the judgment.
It was stated that the courts had determined that extradition would not be “incompatible with his human rights,” and that while he was in the United States, “he will be treated appropriately.”
Mr. Assange is wanted by the authorities in the United States for leaking documents in 2010 and 2011, which the United States claims broke the law and put people’s lives in danger.
The materials that Wikileaks published were connected to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
After putting up a lengthy fight to prevent himself from being extradited, the Australian is currently being imprisoned at the Belmarsh jail in London.
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Extradition is the legal process by which one nation can request that another nation hand over a suspect so that they might be tried.
Wikileaks has indicated that it will file an appeal against the decision made by the home secretary in response to her directive.
Stella Assange, Mr. Assange’s wife, stated that her husband had “nothing wrong” done by him and that “he has not committed any crime.”
She stated that he is a journalist as well as a publisher, and that he is currently being penalized for doing his job.
Gabriel Shipton, his brother, held a press conference in front of the British Embassy in New York and stated that they will take his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights if it was unsuccessful at the High Court of the United Kingdom.
Wikileaks is a media company that acts as a forum for whistleblowing by publishing confidential information that is provided by anonymous individuals.
This ruling represents the most significant development in Mr. Assange’s protracted legal battle to far.
Judges in London had already decided that the United States’ request to extradite him was permissible and that the American authorities would provide adequate medical treatment for him while he was behind bars.
Now, the home secretary has completed her part in the intricate legal process by giving the request from the United States her official approval.
According to her representatives, she was required by law to do so because Mr. Assange does not face the possibility of being sentenced to death, nor does his situation fit into any of the other limited criteria that would allow her to refuse to accept the transfer.
It follows that there is nothing that can prevent the United States government from dispatching a plane to pick up Mr. Assange, unless he is successful in his appeal.
It is possible for him to file a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights in the event that his attorneys are unable to secure a hearing before judges in London.
Ten years ago, it determined that extradition to the United States would not violate human rights; however, you may anticipate that the creator of Wikileaks will try to use new arguments that were not heard back then.
In May of 2019, while Mr. Assange was serving a jail sentence in the United Kingdom for breaching bail, the United States Department of Justice filed 17 accusations against him for violating the Espionage Act. The charges allege that information obtained by Wikileaks endangered lives.
The legal team for Mr. Assange said that the publication of classified papers by Wikileaks, which pertained to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, highlighted misconduct on the part of the United States and were in the public interest.
These documents revealed how the United States military had killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents during the war in Afghanistan, while leaked Iraq war files showed that Iraqi forces had killed 66,000 civilians and tortured prisoners. Additionally, these documents revealed that the US military had killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents during the war in Iraq.
Mr. Assange has been locked up ever since he was taken into custody by the British authorities in 2019, following Ecuador’s decision to revoke his asylum status and order him to leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
He was afraid of being prosecuted in the United States, so in 2012 he went to the embassy asking for asylum, and he remained there for seven years. He asserted that he had been the target of violations of his human rights and that extradition would subject him to a life sentence.
In March, the Supreme Court reached a decision that Mr. Assange’s case did not present any legal problems regarding the assurances that the United States had provided to the United Kingdom over how he was going to be treated.
In the past, judges in the UK have refused to allow his extradition due to concerns regarding his mental health.
Media caption,
The tale of Julian Assange, from his days as a “teenage hacker” through his current fight against his extradition to the United States
According to Amnesty International, granting permission for the extradition “would put him at significant risk and sends a chilling message to journalists.”
Agnes Callamard, the general secretary, stated that the diplomatic promises supplied by the United States that Julian Assange would not be held in solitary confinement cannot be taken at face value given the preceding experience.
David Davis, who served as a minister in the last government, expressed his doubt that Julian Assange would receive a fair trial in the United States.
In contrast to the current situation, he suggested that “this extradition treaty has to be amended to give British and American individuals comparable rights.”
In accordance with the Extradition Act 2003, a representative for the Home Office stated that the secretary of state “must sign” an extradition order if “there are no grounds to preclude the order from being made.”
According to the additional information provided by the Home Office, “the UK courts have not determined that it would be harsh, unjust, or an abuse of process to extradite Mr. Assange.”