Julian Assange may be extradited to US according to British judge

The United States has won Britain’s appeal over the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. This overturns a ruling by a lower court at the beginning of this year that Assange could not be extradited.

According to The Telegraph, Julian Assange may be extradited to the US on Friday in a ruling by the British High Court. Assange can appeal the verdict. In their decision, the judges rejected a lower court’s ruling in January. He then ruled that Assange could not be extradited because there was a real risk that the WikiLeaks founder would commit suicide if he was placed in isolation in a high-security US prison.

The US appealed that ruling, arguing that Assange would not be subject to the most stringent custodial measures after extradition unless there was reason to do so based on any future conduct on his part. Also, his mental condition would not be so bad that extradition would not be possible. The judges appeared to be convinced by the commitments and claims: “We believe the risk has been removed by the guarantees provided. If those guarantees had been given before the lower court, we believe she would have answered the relevant question differently.”

The defense found the guarantees given by the US, including that the country would not apply special administrative measures, too vague. Assange has been in a British prison since 2019, after spending years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He took refuge there in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden on suspicion of rape. Sweden closed the investigation into that case in 2019.

The US wants to extradite Assange for alleged computer hacking into a US state computer and violations of US espionage law. He could be sentenced to 175 years in prison on the basis of the allegations.