Julian Assange’s legal team has launched its last-ditch effort to block the WikiLeaks founder’s extradition to the United States, where he’s wanted on espionage charges stemming from the publication of classified military records and diplomatic cables.
Assange himself did not appear in London’s High Court on Tuesday. His lawyer blamed the controversial Aussie’s health for his absence but did not provide further details.
“He is being prosecuted for engaging in ordinary journalistic practice of obtaining and publishing classified information, information that is both true and of obvious and important public interest,” his lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said in court.
Assange is facing 18 criminal charges for using his website, WikiLeaks, to release thousands of classified documents and other materials in 2010 and 2011, some of which pertained to war and espionage.
American prosecutors argue this dissemination of information put lives at risk, while Assange and his supporters have maintained that the public had a legitimate right to the information he shared.
Assange was later arrested in London at the request of Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning over allegations of rape and sexual assault. In 2012, he jumped bail and sought refuge inside the Ecuadoran Embassy, where he camped out for seven years in a bid to dodge authorities. In 2019, Ecuador revoked his asylum, citing his bad behavior. Assange was then arrested by officers acting on an extradition warrant from the U.S. Justice Department. He’s been jailed in London’s Belmarsh Prison ever since.
The sex crimes case brought against him in Sweden has since been dropped.
The two-day hearing in London this week will examine whether the Assange should be granted leave to appeal a 2022 extradition decision made by former U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel. If officials rule against Assange, he must be extradited within 28 days. His legal team can ask the European Court of Human Rights to block his extradition — though supporters worry he could be put on a plane to the U.S. before that happens, because the British government has already signed an extradition order.
Assange faces life in prison if convicted.
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