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Yesterday, the British judiciary rejected an extradition request from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States, which is suing him for publishing hundreds of thousands of secret documents, indicating the possibility of his suicide.
However, the case of the 49-year-old Australian, who has become a symbol of the fight for media freedom for his supporters, may not stop there, as the US authorities informed the court of his intention to appeal Judge Vanessa Barritzer’s ruling.
Although the judge rejected the arguments related to the defense of freedom of expression, she considered that “the measures described by the United States will not prevent her from committing suicide,” since she could face “conditions of almost total isolation” in the US prison system. Therefore, he rejected his extradition request for “mental health reasons”.
Assange remains detained at Belmarsh Prison until Wednesday’s session to consider the release request.
Outside the Old Bailey criminal court, the verdict was greeted with glee by some 30 people shouting “Free Julian Assange” and “We won!”
“Today marks Julian’s victory … It is a first step towards justice in this case,” said Stella Morris, an attorney for Assange, who became his partner and had two children with her upon leaving court. He added: “But we will celebrate the day he returns home,” and called on the US government to “end” legal prosecutions against Assange.
“The battle is not over yet,” said WikiLeaks editor Kristin Harvinson, adding that, however, “this is a moment of hope at the start of the new year.”
Edward Snowden, who revealed to the press the communications surveillance programs of the US National Security Agency, said he hoped the move would represent an “end” to the case. Amnesty International welcomed the move, but cautioned that it “does not exempt the UK from initiating these legal proceedings for political reasons”.
It is not known what will be the position of the administration of the president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden, with respect to the founder of WikiLeaks. Assange went on trial during the term of President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, the US judiciary halted the prosecution of the WikiLeaks founder in the era of his predecessor, Barack Obama, to whom Biden was his deputy.
But just 10 years ago, he compared Assange to a “high-tech terrorist” in less than a month.
In an interview with the German newspaper Der Spiegel on Sunday, Morris said that Assange, who is currently in London’s Belmarsh high-security prison, “has not met with any of his lawyers since March.”
And he condemned him, saying that “Julian’s defense team was largely unable to carry out its work … The situation in Belmarsh prison is not comparable to the detention conditions to which he would be exposed in the United States if he were extradited. “considering that Assange” will be buried alive. “
Assange is being pursued by the US judiciary on espionage charges in particular, and due to the publication, as of 2010, of more than 700,000 confidential documents related to US military and diplomatic activities, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan. If found guilty, he could be jailed for 175 years.
In her ruling, the British judge said there was “insufficient evidence of pressure from the Trump administration on prosecutors” and “little or no evidence of President Trump’s hostility towards Assange and WikiLeaks.”
He explained that Assange’s dealings with hacking groups to obtain documents “made him go beyond the role of investigative journalism.”
The US organization “Freedom of the Press” expressed “great satisfaction” with the decision, but regretted that it was not motivated by freedom of the press and said: “The judge decided that the prison system is repressive and cannot be extradited.”
Civilians Killed by Americans
The United States accuses the WikiLeaks founder of endangering US intelligence sources, and Assange denies this accusation. Among the leaked documents was a videotape showing civilians being killed by the fire of US soldiers in Iraq in July 2007, and among the dead were two journalists from the “Reuters” news agency.
“The mere presentation of this case in court, and its continuation for a long time, constitutes a widespread and unprecedented attack on freedom of expression,” Harvinson said in a statement sent at the end of the week.
During the hearings, which lasted five weeks in February and September, Assange’s lawyers denounced a “political” process based on “lies” and highlighted that the agreement between the United States and Britain “explicitly” prohibits the extradition of people wanted by ” political transgressions “.
Assange was arrested in April 2019 after seven years spent in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he sought refuge after violating the conditions of his bail, for fear of being extradited to the United States or Sweden, where he faced a rape case that he was stabbed and has since been removed.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Niels Melzer, denounced the conditions of detention of the WikiLeaks founder. And he sent an open letter to Donald Trump on December 22, asking the outgoing US president to pardon the WikiLeaks founder, because he is not “an enemy of the American people.”
The US Department of Justice expressed “great disappointment” with the British judiciary’s decision to refuse to hand over Assange.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said at a press conference: “I will ask the Foreign Minister to take the necessary measures with the aim of asking the British government to release Assange and Mexico to offer him political asylum.”
