For nearly five years, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been held in prison in London as his attorneys fight to stop his extradition to the United States, where he is facing espionage charges for publishing sensitive material provided by whistleblower Chelsea Manning. But he may finally be out of moves. On Tuesday, a British court will hold a two-day hearing determining if Assange’s attorneys can continue to appeal extradition or if he will be sent to the U.S. for prosecution.
While it may be the endgame for Assange’s long effort to stay out of the United States, an answer could still be days or weeks away. On Tuesday, Assange’s lawyers will put forward their argument, followed by the U.S. Justice Department, whose lawyers will make their case. A panel of judges will then determine if Assange is allowed to request for an appeals court to block the extradition.
Assange did not appear in court virtually, citing his deteriorated health after having spent the past 12 years in detention and self-exile. In 2012, facing an extradition request to Sweden over a rape allegation, Assange was granted political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he remained for the next seven years. (Swedish prosecutors have since dropped the case.) At the beginning of this period of self-exile, the U.S. Justice Department under Barack Obama declined to prosecute Assange for his role in publishing sensitive intelligence, as a case against Assange could lead to an erosion in press freedom. But in 2018, the Trump administration accidentally disclosed that the DOJ was now prosecuting Assange. The case has remained open under President Biden.
In 2019, Assange was taken out of the embassy in handcuffs and placed in a high-security U.K. prison as he awaited extradition. In 2021, a judge ruled that Assange could not be extradited to the U.S., determining that he would kill himself in American prison — a ruling that was overturned later that year. If convicted of the many espionage charges he is facing, DOJ attorneys have stated that Assange would likely be sentenced to between four and six years in federal prison.
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