What’s next in Julian Assange’s extradition appeal? | Explained Premium

The Hindu decodes what’s Julian Assange’s latest extradition appeal is about, and what happens next.

The story so far: On February 20, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange initiated what is purportedly his final legal effort to avoid extradition to the United States, with a London court taking up his case to assess whether to grant him an appeal to challenge the extradition order signed by the British government in June 2022. Mr. Assange was notably absent from the court proceedings due to illness, as conveyed by his legal representatives, who asserted that the WikiLeaks founder was being “prosecuted for engaging in the ordinary journalistic practice of obtaining and publishing classified information.”

The 52-year-old has been entangled in an extradition saga for over a decade, spending seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and the last five years in a London prison. Since his 2010 arrest by the British police, he has resisted extradition to the U.S., where he faces 18 criminal charges for his role in obtaining and disclosing classified documents related to military and national defence and violating the Espionage Act. His lawyers say he could be sentenced to up to 175 years if convicted of spying, a claim disputed by the U.S.

Mr. Assange’s legal team contends that he won’t receive a fair trial in the U.S., asserting the case is politically motivated and that he will face a “flagrant denial of justice” if the U.K. facilitates his extradition. His wife, Stella, has underscored the threat to his life, drawing parallels with the recent death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in prison. “His health is declining, mentally and physically. His life is at risk every day he remains in prison, and extradition would result in his death,” she recently stated.

Australia, Assange’s home country, has also intensified pressure on the U.S. and the U.K. for an “amicable end to the prosecution” so that he can return to his family. “Regardless of where people stand, this thing cannot just go on and on and on indefinitely,” Australian PM Anthony Albanese said after the Australian Parliament passed a motion calling for Mr. Assange’s return.

Also Read | An unjust pursuit: On U.S.’ relentless pursuit of Julian Assange

Julian Assange first grabbed international attention in 2010 after he caused a storm in the U.S. with one of the biggest intelligence leaks in history. His website, WikiLeaks, published a huge cache of around half a million sensitive military files on the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including a classified video from 2007 that showed an Apache helicopter firing indiscriminately, killing civilians and two Reuters war correspondents in Baghdad.

The leak was facilitated by ex-intelligence analyst Bradley Manning (now known as Chelsea) who accessed the U.S. Department of Defense database and uploaded the classified military files onto a WikiLeaks dropbox. The files exposing human rights violations in Iraq and Afghanistan by the U.S. forces were published by several international news organisations.