Belgium (Brussels Morning Newspaper) The Westminster magistrates court approved on Wednesday the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is wanted by the United States on charges of espionage for his work publishing sensitive leaked US documents.
The court had forwarded its decision to the UK Home Secretary Priti Patel, who will be expected to ultimately decide whether to extradite Assange to the US, where he potentially faces up to 175 years in prison.
While Patel is expected to rubber-stamp the decision, Assange will still be able to appeal by challenging the government’s decision by judicial review. This procedure would involve a judge examining the legitimacy of a public body’s decision.
Assange still has several other legal tools to fight extradition at his disposal, despite the Supreme Court ruling last month, which rejected his appeal against his extradition. Assange could still presumably mount a legal challenge on other issues of law that were raised during first instance hearings, on which he lost and has not yet filed an appeal on.
Former Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn was among a large crowd of Assange supporters in front of the court on Wednesday, where he called on Patel to “recognise her huge responsibility” to stand up for free speech, journalism and democracy. “He has done no more than tell the world about military planning, military policies and the horrors of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and I think he deserves to be thanked,” said Corbyn.
Press freedom and civil rights organisations claim Assange is being prosecuted for what amounts to journalistic work, warning his extradition and eventual conviction under the US Espionage Act could set a dangerous worldwide precedent, with the US prosecuting a foreign national in a third country for publishing information sensitive to the US military and intelligence organisations.
