WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will learn on Monday whether a British judge has approved his extradition to the United States to face charges including espionage over the release of secret US military documents.
In this file photo taken on May 19, 2017 Wikileaks founder Julian Assange raises his fist prior to addressing the media on the balcony of the Embassy of Ecuador in London on May 19, 2017. Photo: AFP or licensors
US authorities accuse Australian-born Assange, 49, of 18 counts of conspiring to hack government computers and of breaching a secrecy law by releasing vast troves of confidential military records and diplomatic cables over a decade ago.
If extradited and then found guilty of espionage, Assange could go to prison for 30 to 40 years, his lawyers say, though prosecutors say he would face no more than 63 months in jail.
Whoever loses Monday's ruling is likely to appeal to London's High Court and the case could go the United Kingdom's Supreme Court, further delaying the final outcome.
US prosecutors and Western security officials see Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, as a reckless and dangerous enemy of the state whose actions put at risk the lives of agents whose names were in the material.
Supporters regard him as an anti-establishment hero who has been victimised because he exposed US wrongdoing in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and say his prosecution is an assault on journalism and free speech.
Assange's legal team said in its closing written submission to Judge Vanessa Baraitser that the prosecution had been politically motivated "during a unique period of US history under the (US President Donald) Trump administration."
The legal team representing the United States has challenged that assertion, saying US federal prosecutors are forbidden to consider political opinion in making their decisions.
Diplomatic cables
WikiLeaks published a US military video in 2010 showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff. It then released thousands of secret classified files and diplomatic cables.
The legal saga began soon afterwards when Sweden sought Assange's extradition from Britain over allegations of sex crimes. When he lost that case in 2012, he fled to the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he spent seven years, during which he fathered two children.
When he was finally dragged out in April 2019, he was jailed for breaching British bail conditions although the Swedish case against him had been dropped. Last June, the US Justice Department formally asked Britain to extradite him.
Assange's legal team say the charges are politically motivated, his mental health is at risk, conditions in US prisons breach Britain's human rights laws, and he and his lawyers were spied on while he was in the Ecuadorean embassy.
The US legal team has said many of Assange's defence arguments are issues that should be addressed in a trial and have no bearing on extradition.
There is also a possibility that Joe Biden might reverse the decision to prosecute Assange after Biden succeeds Trump as president later this month.
Key life events
July 1971 - Assange is born in Townsville, Australia, to parents involved in theatre. As a teenager, he gains a reputation as a computer programmer, and in 1995 is fined for computer hacking but avoids prison on condition he does not offend again.
2006 - Founds WikiLeaks, creating an internet-based "dead letter drop" for leakers of classified or sensitive information.
April 5, 2010 - WikiLeaks releases leaked video from a US helicopter showing an air strike that killed civilians in Baghdad, including two Reuters news staff.
July 25, 2010 - WikiLeaks releases over 91,000 documents, mostly secret US military reports about the Afghanistan war.
October, 2010 - WikiLeaks releases 400,000 classified military files chronicling the Iraq war. The next month, it releases thousands of US diplomatic cables, including candid views of foreign leaders and blunt assessments of security threats.
Nov. 18, 2010 - A Swedish court orders Assange's arrest over rape allegations, which he denies. He is arrested in Britain the next month on a European Arrest Warrant but freed on bail.
February 2011 - London's Westminster Magistrates Court orders Assange's extradition to Sweden. He appeals.
June 14, 2012 - The British Supreme Court rejects Assange's final appeal and five days later he takes refuge in Ecuador's embassy in London and seeks political asylum, which Ecuador grants in August 2012.
May 19, 2017 - Swedish prosecutors discontinue their investigation, saying it is impossible to proceed while Assange is in the Ecuadorean Embassy.
April 11, 2019 - Assange is carried out of the Ecuadorean Embassy and arrested after Ecuador revokes his political asylum. He is sentenced on May 1 to 50 weeks in prison by a British court for skipping bail. He completes the sentence early but remains jailed pending extradition hearings.
May 13, 2019 - Swedish prosecutors reopen their investigation and say they will seek Assange's extradition to Sweden.
June 11, 2019 - The US Justice Department formally asks Britain to extradite Assange to the United States to face charges that he conspired to hack US government computers and violated an espionage law.
Nov. 19, 2019 - Swedish prosecutors drop their rape investigation, saying the evidence is not strong enough to bring charges, in part because of the passage of time.
Feb. 21, 2020 - A London court begins the first part of extradition hearings. On Oct. 1, 2020, Judge Vanessa Baraitser says she will give her ruling on Jan. 4, 2021.
(Reporting by Michael Holden, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
- Reuters