WikiLeaks founder’s fight to avoid espionage charges in United States could end

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s fight not to face espionage charges in the United States may be over after a long legal saga in the United Kingdom that included seven years of self-deportation to a foreign embassy and five years in prison.

What does Assange face? It could be his last court hearing in London starting Tuesday as he tries to stave off his extradition to the United States. The High Court has scheduled a two-day hearing on whether Assange can ask the appeals court to block his transfer. If the court does not allow the appeal to proceed, it can be sent across the Atlantic.

His wife says the decision is a matter of life and death for AssangeHis health deteriorated while in custody.

“He puts his life in danger every day he’s in prison,” Stella Assange said Thursday. “If they extradite him, he will die.”

Assange, 52, has been an Australian computer expert In 2010 WikiLeaks was indicted in the United States on 18 counts over the release of hundreds of thousands of classified documents.

Prosecutors say he conspired with US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into Pentagon computers and release secret diplomatic cables and military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He faces 17 counts of espionage and one count of computer misuse.. If convicted, his lawyers say he could face up to 175 years in prison, though US authorities have said any sentence could be much less.

Assange and his supporters argue that he acted as a journalist to expose wrongdoing by the US military and that he is protected by the freedom of the press guaranteed by the First Amendment to the US Constitution.

Among the files released by WikiLeaks was video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack by US forces in Baghdad that killed 11 people, including two journalists. Reuters.

“Julian is charged with obtaining, possessing, and communicating to the public information about evidence of war crimes committed by the United States government.”Stella Assange said. “Reporting a crime is never a crime.”

US prosecutors say Assange is guilty of attempted murder Hack Pentagon computers And that the WikiLeaks publications posed a “serious and imminent threat” to US intelligence sources in Afghanistan and Iraq.

While the US criminal case against Assange was not made public until 2019, his freedom has been restricted for more than a dozen years.

Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012 and was granted political asylum after the English courts ruled. He was due to be extradited to Sweden as part of a rape investigation in the Scandinavian country.

He was arrested by British police after the Ecuadorian government revoked his asylum status in 2019 and later jailed for jumping bail when he first sought refuge inside the embassy.

Although Sweden dropped its sex crimes investigation, Assange remains in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison as his extradition battle with the United States continues.

A London judge initially blocked Assange’s transfer to the United States, arguing that He was likely to commit suicide if he was held in a harsh American prison.

But subsequent courts paved the way for action after US authorities assured him that he would not tolerate harsh treatment that his lawyers said would endanger his physical and mental health.

Supporters of Stella Assange and her husband have criticized such assurances as meaningless because they are conditional.

If the London court rejects Assange’s request for a full appeal, that could happen Extradition to the United States Once the British authorities approved his dismissal.

Plan your legal team Appeal the adverse ruling before the European Court of Human Rights, but fears that he might be transferred to a court in Strasbourg, France, could prevent his extradition.

If he wins this week’s hearing, it will set the stage for an appeals process that could drag the case further.

“This process has been marked by a long and progressive timeframe,” said WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristin Hrafson. “We call it punishment by process. “It’s obviously a deliberate attempt to wear him down and punish him for taking so long.”

While the UK Supreme Court rejected Assange’s petition, saying it did not raise “arguable points of law”, his wife said his new proposal would raise several issues that are grounds for appeal.

Assange’s lawyers plan to argue that he cannot get a fair trial in the United Statesthat the treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom prohibiting extradition for political offenses and the crime of espionage should not apply to publishers.

“The drafters of the Espionage Act did not intend for publishers to fall within its purview,” wrote Stella Assange on X, formerly known as Twitter. “The classified expert evidence showed that the acquisition and publication of state secrets was routine and that the editors had a ‘practice of non-prosecution’. The prosecution ‘crosses new legal boundaries’ and ‘breaks all legal precedents’.

Stella Assange said Physical and mental health from her husband has become very bad and aged prematurely in prison. He suffered a mini-stroke in October 2021 and was so ill in December that he fractured a rib.

Stella Assange said, “I worry about him every time he gets sick.” “The mental torture is extreme”.

The couple, who married in Belmarsh prison nearly two years ago, have two young children, Gabriel and Max, who were conceived during Assange’s stay at the embassy.

Stella Assange said the children visit their fathers in prison every week and undergo security checks that include being frisked by guards and sniffed by dogs. The couple protects the children, who, according to their mother, have not been told why their father is behind bars.

“I don’t think it’s fair for them to know what’s really going on.”He choked out. “They know exactly what prison is. “They know that the guards prevent Julian from leaving the prison, even though he wants to return home..

(with information from AP)