It was announced Tuesday that Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, will have his final appeal in London’s High Court in February 2024 to stop his extradition from the UK to the United States, where he is wanted on 18 criminal charges, including stealing and publishing government documents and spying. If convicted, he would face 175 years in prison.
Britain had previously green-lit his extradition, Reuters reports, however Assange has worked tirelessly to overturn the ruling. He has garnered massive support along the way, particularly from Australia, from which he hails.
WikiLeaks said in a statement: “The two-day hearing may be the final chance for Julian Assange to prevent his extradition to the United States.”
Assange founded WikiLeaks in 2006, however the site came to prominence in 2010 when it posted US government documents that were given to Assange by another source. He is currently being held in a high-security prison in Belmarsh, UK where he has been largely kept in solitary confinement, as Australian Senator Alex Antic stated, since 2019 after he violated his bail conditions. Prior to that he had been holed up in Ecuador’s embassy in London for the last decade. He has a wife and two children he has not yet seen as a free man.
“The last four and a half years have taken the most considerable toll on Julian and his family, including our two young sons,” said his wife Stella. “The persecution of this innocent journalist and publisher must end.”
Simultaneously, Tuesday, four of his supporters from the US saw a huge win after a lawsuit they filed against the CIA advanced in federal court, despite the agency attempting to have the case tossed out. According to Politico, they alleged that the CIA eavesdropped on conversations they had with the jailed Assange when they were visiting him, violating their rights.
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