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The decision dragged on for a long time, now a London court has decided: Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the United States. There he faces up to 175 years in prison.
A London court on Monday rejected the US extradition request of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Judge Vanessa Baraitser based her decision on Assange’s mental health and the conditions of detention that would await him in the United States. Hopefully he will commit suicide in solitary confinement.
The United States was expected to appeal the verdict. The 49-year-old would have threatened up to 175 years in prison if convicted. Meanwhile, Mexico offered Assange political asylum.
The US judiciary is accusing the native Australian of stealing and publishing secret material from US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan together with whistleblower Chelsea Manning. The 49-year-old man put the lives of American informants at risk, hence the accusation. Yet his supporters see him as an investigative journalist who has exposed war crimes.
Snowden: the most dangerous threat to press freedom in decades
Whistleblower Edward Snowden praised the verdict. On Twitter he wrote: “Many thanks to everyone who has fought against one of the most dangerous threats to press freedom in decades.”
The German Association of Journalists (DJV) reacted “with joy and relief.” The judge’s verdict is a major success “for all journalists who work with explosive material that powerful people are not interested in publishing,” said DJV Federal President Frank Überall. The German Union of Journalists (dju) emphasized that the decision to extradite would amount to “declaring the rule of law bankrupt.”
Judge: The case is not politically motivated
The foreign policy spokesman for the left-wing parliamentary group, Gregor Gysi, said that the rejection of extradition “is an important step to safeguard the rule of law, in the interests of press freedom and towards democratic stability.” Assange must be fired as soon as possible.
However, the judge made it clear that the case was not politically motivated. Assange’s behavior went beyond the normal behavior of an investigative journalist. He was aware of the danger to informants when he did not hide their names in published documents. “The right to freedom of expression does not give people like Assange unlimited discretion to decide the fate of others,” the judge said.
A fair trial is not feared in the US.
The litigation is likely to continue in the UK for the time being, as the decision can be appealed. After a new instance, the procedure could go to the British Supreme Court and finally deal with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Human rights activists, politicians, and organizations like Reporters Without Borders had previously warned that Assange would not get a fair trial in the United States.
The Wikileaks founder had spent around a year and a half in the Belmarsh maximum security prison, in the southeast of the British capital. In view of the corona pandemic, it was only allowed to receive a very limited number of visitors, and phone calls abroad were not unlimited. Due to a crown outbreak in prison, an entire block was temporarily quarantined. Family members have always been concerned about Assange’s mental and health condition.
After Monday’s decision in London, Mexico offered Julian Assange political asylum. The Chancellery must initiate the appropriate procedure and inform the British government about the asylum offer, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador told reporters on Monday.
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