The United States has requested the extradition of Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, alleges political motives and objectives that are considered inadmissible under the extradition treaty with the United Kingdom and violate the human rights convention incorporated into British law. This argument was made by Assange's legal team in the Supreme Court of England and Wales on Tuesday.
According to his lawyer James Fitzgerald, Assange himself was not present in court for health reasons. In the meantime, his wife Stella and his father, John Shipton, attended the first day of public hearings in the courtroom.
On the outskirts of town, a lively gathering of protesters gathered in solidarity with the founder of WikiLeaks, who has been in the crosshairs of the US government since WikiLeaks was made public classified information of the State by Chelsea Manning 14 years ago. The legal team argued that no media director in the United States had been prosecuted for publishing secret reports and stressed the political nature of the proceedings.
Faces of Julian Assange 18 charges in connection with the acquisition and dissemination of information, with the full knowledge that it “could be used to the detriment of the United States and in America.” advantage of a foreign nation». Attorney Marc Summer emphasized the “public interest” of this documentary evidence, which reveals the “alleged responsibility of the US government for serious crimes” such as torture, murder of civilians or kidnapping of terror suspects.
Assange is trying to challenge the “political” aspects of the US proposal, which was approved in 2021. Although a lower court initially blocked the request delivery Due to the risk of suicide, this humanitarian ban was overturned on appeal through diplomatic assurances. Assange will begin serving a five-year sentence in London's maximum security prison in April.
Although he has exhausted his 50-week prison sentence imposed in May 2019 following his eviction from the Ecuadorian embassy, he remains detained without charge pending a decision on the US extradition request. A positive decision by the Supreme Court would lead to a new trial where the Freedom of the press and the right of the public Knowing the truth about government actions would take precedence. Otherwise your legal life in the UK would end.