WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will appear before the British High Court on Monday to determine whether he will be extradited to the U.S. following more than a decade of legal battles. Assange has been in British custody since 2019 after the Ecuadorian government revoked his asylum status and expelled him from their London embassy, where he had sought refuge for seven years.
He faces 18 charges in the U.S. for WikiLeaks’s 2010 publication of hundreds of thousands of classified military and intelligence documents. U.S. prosecutors allege that Assange collaborated with military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, aka: Bradley Manning, to steal and disseminate these documents, which included secret diplomatic cables and information about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Manning was convicted and served seven years in prison for her role.
Assange’s supporters view him as a victim of political persecution, arguing that he is being targeted for his journalistic work, which exposed U.S. military misconduct. The leaked documents included records of airstrikes in Iraq and Afghanistan that resulted in civilian casualties.
“Julian has been indicted for receiving, possessing, and communicating information to the public that evidences war crimes committed by the U.S. government,” his wife, Stella Assange, told The Associated Press. “Reporting a crime is never a crime.” Assange initially sought asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy to avoid a Swedish rape investigation and potential extradition to the U.S. The rape investigation was dropped in 2021 due to the passage of time.
After being arrested in 2019, Assange served a one-year sentence in the U.K. for skipping bail. In 2021, a British judge initially blocked his extradition to the U.S., citing concerns that Assange might commit suicide if subjected to the harsh conditions of the U.S. prison system. However, the British government approved his extradition in 2022, which he appealed.
The key issue in Monday’s High Court hearing is whether U.S. government assurances can alleviate concerns for Assange’s well-being. Stella Assange criticized these “so-called assurances,” including promises that the death penalty would not be pursued, calling them “weasel words.”
WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson noted that the judges asked whether Assange could rely on First Amendment protections. “It should be an easy yes or no question,” Hrafnsson said. “The answer was, ‘He can seek to rely on First Amendment protections.’ That is a ‘no.’ So the only rational decision on Monday is for the judges to come out and say, ‘This is not good enough.’ Anything else is a judicial scandal.”
If the High Court rules in Assange’s favor, it could lead to years of further legal battles. If the court allows his extradition, Assange’s legal team plans to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. Additionally, President Biden could intervene by fulfilling an Australian government request to drop the charges and allow Assange to return home. Biden stated last month that he is “considering” the request.