A British court issued a formal order on Wednesday (20) authorizing the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to stand trial on charges of espionage over the publication of hundreds of thousands of secret documents from 2010.
The order will now be sent to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel, who has the final word on any extradition. Assange’s defense can file its allegations until May 18.
The United States Justice wants to try the 50-year-old Australian for the disclosure on WikiLeaks of more than 700,000 confidential documents about American diplomatic and military activities, which revealed atrocities in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
If found guilty, Assange faces up to 175 years in prison, in a case that human rights organizations denounce as an attack on press freedom.
The US government claims that the Australian is not a journalist, but a hacker who has endangered the lives of several informants by publishing complete, unedited documents. On March 14, the British Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Assange to appeal the extradition.
