LONDON (Reuters) – The extradition of Julian Assange to the United States to face espionage charges was granted by Britain's interior minister on Friday, the latest twist in the WikiLeaks founder's long-running legal drama over secret papers he published.However, the ruling may not put an end to Assange's decade-long battle to avoid a US prosecution in a case that could jeopardize First Amendment privileges.Assange is anticipated to file an appeal with the UK's High Court against Patel's ruling.He has 14 days to complete the task.
"The UK courts have not found that extraditing Mr Assange would be harsh, unjust, or an abuse of process," said Home Secretary Priti Patel's office in a statement
"Neither have they determined that extradition would be incompatible with his human rights, such as his right to a fair trial and freedom of expression, or that he would be treated adequately in the United States, including in terms of his health."
The US Department of Justice has charged Australian native Assange, 50, with 18 counts, including aiding and abetting former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning's efforts to leak sensitive data and then disseminating them on the internet. According to the documents, the US military killed people while failing to record the occurrences.
Julian Assange enraged the US administration. He now faces a life sentence in prison.
Assange is now detained at Belmarsh Prison in the United Kingdom, which holds some of the country's most dangerous criminals. He's there because he was convicted of bail evasion in 2012, when he fled to Ecuador's embassy in London rather than face extradition to Sweden. Scandinavian detectives wanted to question him at the time about sexual assault claims involving two women. Those accusations were later abandoned.
Assange's defenders worried that if he was extradited to Sweden, American authorities would find it simpler to extradite him to the United States.
He is adamant in his denial of any wrongdoing.
Assange and his friends view him as a political exile whose case is politically motivated because he exposed US military misbehavior in Iraq and Afghanistan. His critics claim he doesn't write articles, don't interview people, and doesn't provide enough context, and that disseminating raw, unfiltered documents and data – the disclosure of stolen sensitive files – isn't journalism.
According to the US government, Assange is guilty of "straightforward" criminality for hacking and then disclosing secret military and intelligence information, exposing secret US sources to torture or death in countries ranging from Iraq to China.
If Assange is convicted in the United States, his lawyers say he could face up to 175 years in prison, though American authorities have said the term would most likely be far less. An extradition request from the United States was first denied by a British district judge on the grounds that Assange would likely commit suicide if incarcerated in the United States. Later, US authorities assured the WikiLeaks founder that he would not be subjected to the harsh treatment that his lawyers claimed would jeopardize his physical and mental health. If Assange is found guilty, the US has also committed not to seek his execution.
"Allowing Mr Assange's extradition on this basis would have a chilling effect on media freedom, and could ultimately hamper the press in performing its task as purveyor of information and public watchdog in democratic societies," Dunja Mijatovi, Commissioner for Human Rights for the Council of Europe, an organization affiliated with the European Union, wrote in a recent letter to Patel.
Former CIA analyst John Kiriakou previously told USA TODAY that Assange's case could set a precedent that would erode press freedoms for news organizations that publish classified information. Kiriakou blew the whistle on a US government-sanctioned torture program in 2007 that was approved by then-President George W. Bush because of the feared threats posed by the al-Qaeda terrorist organization.
"Who's next if you can prosecute someone who has a solid case for being branded a publisher?" Kiriakou was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to revealing the name of a waterboarding officer.
While incarcerated, Assange married Stella Morris, a lawyer who has worked on the fight to block Assange's extradition and achieve his release.
Extradite is not an option. In a statement, Assange, an official UK advocacy organisation, stated that "It's a bad day for British democracy and press freedom. Anyone who cares about freedom of expression in this country should be ashamed… Julian made no mistakes. He hasn't done anything wrong and isn't a criminal. He's a publisher and a journalist who's being persecuted for doing his job."
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