This is likely to be a turning point in the years-long court series: a London court is considering Monday’s appeal to the Supreme Court against the decision to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is in danger of transferred directly to the US.
U.S. authorities have accused the Australian of leaking more than 700,000 classified US military and diplomatic documents since 2010, mainly to Iraq and Afghanistan.
He is being prosecuted for espionage and, if convicted, faces up to 175 years in prison; his supporters say his case is a very serious attack on press freedom.
The British court had initially ruled in his favor a year ago, when Judge Vanessa Barreicher rejected the request of the American authorities to extradite the 50-year-old Australian, citing the risk of suicide.
But Washington claimed a major victory on December 10, when British judges overturned the ruling, saying the United States had provided assurances to address the concerns raised in the trial.
Mr Assange’s lawyers then appealed to the Supreme Court, which will consider it today to decide whether or not to approve it. They are expected to announce their decision around 12:45 (Greek time).
In case of rejection, the founder of WikiLeaks will now have practically exhausted the legal means at his disposal. The request for his extradition will be forwarded again to a British court, with the recommendation to be served on the Minister of the Interior, Priti Patel, who is responsible for making the final decision.
“Except in cases of appeal, the wanted person must be extradited within 28 days of the decision of the minister who approved it,” the official website of the British government states.
American promises
Julian Assange, who has been held in a high-security prison near London for the past two and a half years, was arrested by British police in April 2019 after spending seven years at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he had appealed after being released on parole.
He feared that he might be extradited to the United States, either directly or through Sweden, where he had been prosecuted for rape, which has since been dropped.
During the hearing on the American appeal against the decision not to be issued, at the end of October, the US authorities sought to reassure them about the treatment they would give to the founder of WikiLeaks.
Washington has said it will not transfer him to Florence, Colorado’s ADX High Security Prison, known as the “Alcatraz of the Rockies” – where Al Qaeda members are almost completely isolated – and that he will be offered all the necessary psychiatric clinics and care. They also mentioned the possibility of serving his sentence in Australia.
These guarantees convinced the British judges, but not his fiancée, Stella Morris, who fears for his health if he is extradited to a country which, as he complains, “conspired to kill Julian because of what he made public”.
Ms. Morris, with whom Julian Assange had two children while locked up at the Ecuadorian embassy, ​​will appear in court in London today and is expected to give a press conference after his verdict is issued.
The Australian has secured the support of some forty members of the French parliament, who have called for him to be granted political asylum in France.
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