WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be extradited to the US, orders UK Court

By Team Newsable | First Published Apr 20, 2022, 5:18 PM IST

The order comes after the UK Supreme Court last month refused Assange permission to appeal against a lower court’s ruling that he could be extradited.

A British judge on Wednesday formally approved extraditing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States over the release of confidential US documents. Assange is facing trial over the publication of secret files relating to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The order comes after the UK Supreme Court last month refused Assange permission to appeal against a lower court’s ruling that he could be extradited.

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The decision now rests with interior minister Priti Patel, although Assange’s lawyers may still appeal to the High Court if she approves the extradition.

The ruling Wednesday by a magistrate in central London brings the long-running legal saga in the UK courts closer to a conclusion.

But Assange’s lawyers have vowed to make representations to Patel and potentially launch further appeals on other points in the case.

The move doesn’t exhaust the legal options for Assange, who has sought for years to avoid a trial in the US on charges related to WikiLeaks’ publication of a huge trove of classified documents more than a decade ago. His lawyers have four weeks to make submissions to Patel, and can also seek to appeal to the High Court.

Assange was last month denied permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court against moves to extradite him to the US, where he could face a lifetime in prison.

Washington wants to put him on trial in connection with the publication of 500,000 secret military files relating to the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Assange, 50, is wanted in the United States on 18 criminal charges, including breaking a spying law, after WikiLeaks published thousands of secret US files in 2010. He denies any wrongdoing. Assange has been in a southeast London jail since 2019, and before that was holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in the British capital for seven years.

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