WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could be extradited to the United States

Westminster Magistrates’ Court judge approves deportation order The order has not yet been signed by Home Minister Priti Patel alone. Assange’s lawyers have until May 18 to appeal to Patel against the decision.

The WikiLeaks founder has been trying for years to avoid a trial that could face up to 175 years in prison in the United States. U.S. court wants to prosecute him for leaking several military classified documents and intelligence. Among other things, he may have been responsible for the deaths of informants in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Outside the court, dozens of people gathered to show their support for Assange and to protest his deportation. His supporters see him as a valuable investigative journalist who has exposed war crimes and should be a role model. Assange has been held in Belmarsh High Security Prison in London for about three years.

Arrested in London

Assange, 50, has been trying to avoid trial in the United States for years. He was accused of raping two women in Sweden in 2010, four years after WikiLeaks was founded. Assange was arrested in London on that basis. He was released on bail and fled to the Ecuadorian embassy in the British capital, fearing he would be deported to the United States by Sweden. He stayed at the embassy for nine years, until he left. In 2019, Sweden dropped the case against Assange. He was still detained in London at the request of the United States. He also had to serve a prison sentence for violating bail conditions.

In December 2021, a British court ruled that Assange could be deported in a US lawsuit. Deportation was possible because the United States had promised that Assange would not be imprisoned under maximum security and that he could serve a possible sentence in Australia. Earlier, another British judge ruled that Assange could not be deported because of health concerns and inhumane treatment.