A judge in London plans to decide on Monday whether Britain should extradite Julian Assange to the United States, where the WikiLeaks founder faces charges of conspiring to hack government computers and violate the Espionage Law by obtaining and releasing confidential documents. in 2010 and 2011.
A decision in favor of the US extradition request could pave the way for a high-risk trial that Assange has been trying to avoid for years and which his supporters say represents a dangerous threat to press freedom. Mr. Assange faces up to 175 years in prison if found guilty of all charges.
If the judge, Vanessa Baraitser, rejects the extradition request, however, it would give Assange a big victory at a time when the recent United States governments have increasingly used the Espionage Law against sources of journalists.
Here’s what you need to know about the decision.
What are the possible results?
Judge Baraitser will not decide whether Assange is guilty of an offense, but will decide whether the United States’ extradition request meets the requirements set out in a 2003 extradition treaty with Britain – that is, that the alleged crime for which Assange is wanted could also led to trial in Britain if he had done it there.
If Judge Baraitser decides in favor of extradition, the case will go to Britain’s Home Secretary, who makes the final decision on extraditions. And it would be a politically delicate choice: Assange is such a well-known figure, and the charges he faces in the United States are so serious, that a decision by the British authorities will have lasting consequences.
However, before going to the Interior Minister, the appeals are likely to keep the case in court for months. And if Assange loses, his legal team can also try to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights. If he won on appeal, he could be released.
President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. can play a critical role in determining Mr. Assange’s fate. “If the British judge decides in favor of extradition and the United States succeeds in extraditing, it will probably be up to the new president to decide whether the government should continue with the prosecution,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond.
As vice president, Biden called the founder of WikiLeaks a “high-tech terrorist” in 2010, but it is still unclear what he would do as president. Mr. Biden could forgive Mr. Assange, or the Justice Department could drop the charges against him, or continue the charge.
Calls for President Trump to forgive Assange have also increased in recent weeks, as Trump issued a wave of pardons and commutations before the end of his term.
Britain has rejected several requests for extradition from the United States in recent years. In 2012, she refused to extradite Gary McKinnon, a British hacker who hacked computers in the United States government in 2002, claiming he was very ill. In 2018, a ruling by a higher court also blocked the extradition of Lauri Love, who was accused of hacking U.S. government websites.
What is at stake with the US decision and any judgment?
A ruling in favor of extradition could subject Assange to life in prison.
The US government considers Assange an individual who has put lives at risk by revealing names of US officials and informants who have provided valuable information in dangerous locations like war zones.
“Reporting or journalism is not an excuse for criminal activity or a license to violate common criminal laws,” James Lewis, a lawyer representing the US government, told the British court last year.
But news organizations and right-wing groups say the charges that Assange faces pose a serious threat to press freedom.
“The future of journalism and press freedom is at stake here,” said Rebecca Vincent, director of international campaigns for Reporters Without Borders in London.
“If the United States government obtains the extradition of Assange and prosecutes him in the United States, he can prosecute any journalist and news organizations on similar charges,” added Vincent.
Greg Barns, an Australian lawyer and adviser to Assange, said: “The biggest risk for him in the United States is not having to face a fair trial.” Mr Barns added: “He could spend the rest of his life in solitary confinement, treated in a cruel and arbitrary way”.
Why is Mr. Assange in a British prison?
In 2012, Mr. Assange entered the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to escape an extradition request from Sweden, where he faced charges of rape. He spent seven years at the embassy, but was arrested by British police in 2019 and later sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail on entering the embassy.
The charges in Sweden were dropped and Assange served his 50-week sentence. He is not charged with any crime outside the United States, but remains in London’s Belmarsh prison while Britain decides on his extradition. His bail requests were rejected.
Several doctors said Assange suffers from depression and memory loss and could try to commit suicide if he were extradited.
Nils Melzer, the United Nations special rapporteur on torture and ill-treatment, who examined Assange in prison, said last year that his incarceration amounted to “psychological torture”.
“I can attest to the fact that his health has seriously deteriorated, to the point that his life is now in danger,” Melzer said last month, urging Trump to forgive Assange.
Why is Mr. Assange wanted in the United States?
Assange, 49, was indicted in 2019 on 17 counts of violating the Espionage Law for obtaining and publishing secret military and diplomatic documents. He was later accused of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Assange’s promotion of government transparency has made him a hero to many, but he has also been criticized as an advertising seeker with an erratic personality.
The publication of the material exposed several crimes and irregularities committed by the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, and human rights groups hailed his release as valuable information to the public. Right-wing groups such as Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International have called for all charges to be dropped.
“The activities that Julian Assange was involved in are activities that journalists carry out all the time,” said Julia Hall, Amnesty International’s specialist in counterterrorism and criminal justice in Europe. “We wouldn’t have information without them.”
What happened during the extradition hearings?
Hearings were delayed by the coronavirus pandemic and technical flaws that, according to human rights groups, hampered their ability to monitor them.
In February, Assange appeared in a glass case, where he was unable to hear properly, according to observers. In September, after an explosion by Assange, the judge warned that he would be removed from court if he continued to interrupt prosecutors. Lewis, acting on behalf of the United States government, argued that Assange would face extradition for publishing the names of the informants, not for dealing with leaked documents.
In their final comments, Assange’s lawyers argued that espionage charges constituted a political crime and that extradition on the basis of a political crime was prohibited by the extradition treaty between Britain and the United States.
Asked if he would consent to extradition to the United States, Mr. Assange replied: “No”.