UK approves Julian Assange’s US extradition: A look back at Wikileaks founder’s ‘crimes’, his long legal battle
To his supporters, the 50-year-old is a secrecy-busting journalist who exposed US military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. But US prosecutors claim Assange put lives at risk when he helped intelligence agent Chelsea Manning steal diplomatic cables and military files which Wikileaks later publish
The British government on Friday ordered the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to face spying charges that could see him being imprisoned for the rest of his life.
The move marks a milestone, but not the end, of a decade-long legal saga sparked by his website’s publication of classified US documents in 2010.
Assange has battled in British courts for years to avoid being sent to the US, where he faces 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse.
WikiLeaks said it would challenge the order, and Assange’s lawyers have 14 days to lodge an appeal with the High Court.
“We’re not at the end of the road here,” Assange’s wife, Stella Assange, said. “We’re going to fight this.”
Here’s everything you need to know about Assange and why he’s wanted by the United States:
Who is Assange?
To his supporters, Assange, 50, is a secrecy-busting journalist who exposed US military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
What is he accused of?
In 2010, Assange’s WikiLeaks released 470,000 US classified military documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The site later released another batch of more than 250,000 classified US diplomatic cables.
But American prosecutors said the Australian citizen helped US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk.
Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning speaks with reporters, after arriving at the Federal Court, in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, May 16, 2019.
What was he charged with?
The Donald Trump justice department in a sealed 2017 indictment charged him with collaborating in a conspiracy with Manning to crack the password of a Defence Department network to publish classified documents and communications on WikiLeaks.
The Trump administration further charged Assange with violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and he was indicted on 17 new charges related to the Act at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. These charges carry a maximum sentence of 170 years in prison.
What about his extradition battles?
In November 2010, a Swedish prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for Assange over sexual assault allegations involving two women.
Assange denied the claims, saying the sexy was consensual, but was arrested after he reported to police in London in December. A week later, he was released on bail.
In February 2011, a British judge ruled Assange can be extradited to Sweden. Assange, claiming the Swedish allegations are a pretext to transfer him to the US to face charges over publishing the military files, filed a challenge.
In 2012, Assange sought refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in London. Ecuador, then ruled by left-wing president Rafael Correa, granted him asylum in August that year.
Assange generated substantial attention during the 2016 presidential election, and in investigations that followed, after WikiLeaks published stolen Democratic emails that proved embarrassing for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign that US authorities say were hacked by Russian military intelligence officials.
File image of Hillary Clinton. AP
In May 2017, Swedish prosecutors finally dropped the sex assault investigation after failing to obtain Assange’s transfer.
In December, Ecuador granted Assange nationality but was blocked by Britain from according him diplomatic status.
Things changed in January 2018. Ecuador, now ruled by right-wing President Lenin Moreno, said hosting Assange has become “untenable”.
In March, Ecuador temporarily cut his communication links. Tensions peaked in April 2019 when Moreno claimed Assange has “repeatedly violated” the conditions of his asylum.
Ecuador then revoked Assange’s citizenship on 10 April.
On 11 April, British police dragged Assange out of the embassy following the withdrawal of his asylum. He was then arrested on a US extradition request.
In May, Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for having breached bail in 2010.
The legal process for his extradition to the US begins, and Swedish prosecutors reopen the rape investigation.
On 23 May, the US Justice Department charges Assange with violating the US Espionage Act by publishing military and diplomatic files in 2010.
If convicted, he faces jail terms of up to 175 years.
File image of former US president Donald Trump. AP
In 2020, Assange’s lawyers claimed then US president Donald Trump had promised him a pardon if he denied Russia had leaked him damaging emails about Hillary Clinton ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
The White House denied the claim.
On 19 November, Swedish prosecutors drop the rape investigation because “the evidence is not strong enough” despite “credible” claims from his alleged victim.
In 2021, a London court blocked Assange’s extradition on the grounds he would be a suicide risk if sent to the US.
But with the whistleblower still behind bars, a high court appeal overturned the verdict and sent the case back to the original court after a US promise he would not be held in isolation in American jails and would receive proper medical treatment.
In January 2022, judges granted Assange permission to appeal, offering a glimmer of hope. But on 14 March the Supreme Court refuses to hear his appeal.
A week later, Assange married Stella Morris at Belmarsh high-security jail.
Assange’s supporters condemn extradition
Assange’s supporters and lawyers maintain he was acting as a journalist and is entitled to First Amendment protections of freedom of speech. They argue that the case is politically motivated, that he would face inhumane treatment and be unable to get a fair trial in the US.
Silkie Carlo, director of civil liberties group Big Brother Watch, said the British government’s “complicity in the political persecution of a journalist simply for revealing uncomfortable truths to the public is appalling, wrong and shames our country.”
Stella Assange, a lawyer who married her husband in a prison ceremony in March, said the U.K. decision marked “a dark day for press freedom and for British democracy.”
“Julian did nothing wrong,” she said. “He has committed no crime and is not a criminal. He is a journalist and a publisher, and he is being punished for doing his job.”
Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard said Friday that extraditing Assange “would put him at great risk and sends a chilling message to journalists the world over.”
“If the extradition proceeds, Amnesty International is extremely concerned that Assange faces a high risk of prolonged solitary confinement, which would violate the prohibition on torture or other ill treatment,” she said.
Assange’s supporters say his physical and mental health are both under strain. Stella Assange told a news conference that her husband’s condition was “deteriorating by the day.”
“I spoke to him last night as well and he had a lot of anxiety. He couldn’t sleep,” she said. “But Julian is a fighter.”
With inputs from agencies
