He also points out that his work has involved exposing war crimes and human rights abuses by the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan and in Guantanamo prison, and that his extradition would have “deterrent” effects on freedom of expression.
Last week, Westminster Magistrates Court referred the extradition order to the Home Secretary after the High Court in London accepted an appeal against an initial judgment against Assange that was sent to the United States over fears it would attack his life.
The UK Supreme Court subsequently denied the cyberactivist the right to appeal this decision, so the case went ex officio to Patel.
The US Department of Justice has accused the WikiLeaks founder of violating the Espionage Act by obtaining and publishing classified military and diplomatic documents in 2010.
If Assange is tried and found guilty by a US court, he could face 175 years in prison on the 17 charges against him.
Following the court’s decision to place Assange’s fate in Patel’s hands, dozens of human rights organizations and the Journalists’ Guild redoubled their calls for the British Conservative government to release him from his confinement in a maximum-security London prison since April 2019.
Argentinian Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel also called for the Australian journalist’s release and warned that the British judiciary’s extradition order was tantamount to a death sentence. (ALH)
Taken from the Latin Press