A UK court has ruled that Julian Assange should not be extradited to the United States. The founder of Wikileaks is wanted in the US on espionage charges.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was re-arrested by the British authorities in April 2019, after waiver of his immunity by the embassy of Ecuador where he was voluntarily imprisoned for seven years. He has since been remanded in custody pending trial in the United States with the charge of espionage.
The British court ruled today that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange should not be extradited to the United States to stand trial. Judge Vanessa Baraitser said that while Assange had outgrown the role of a journalist by releasing thousands of secret US letters, the risk to his mental and physical well-being was very high.
The US has already vowed to appeal the ruling and the case is likely to end up in Britain's High Court, a procedure which may last several years.
Wikileaks was founded in 2006, but gained global attention in 2010 after publishing a series of documents related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. THE website keep posting material which was leaked from the State Department and involved Guantanamo Bay and the Democratic National Committee. Assange's critics in the US believe he has received material from hostile powers, including Russia.
The 49-year-old Australian is wanted in the US on espionage and conspiracy charges, having committed electronic invasion after working with former US Army analyst Chelsea Manning (Chelsea Manning). In both the UK and the US, Mr Assange's supporters believe his work constitutes journalism and therefore extradition would be a breach of press freedom.
In its decision, Baraitser rejected such allegations, saying that Assange had previously encouraged people to join the US intelligence community to leak sensitive information.
