The UK Home Secretary has signed an order to extradite Julian Assange, who is the founder of WikiLeaks, to the United States. Priti Patel says this is because Julian likely faces espionage charges and a dark day for press freedom in the US.
After years of legal battle, the London court issued a formal extradition order for Patel to the US.
The decision to release Assange’s sentence was appealed within the required 14 days. This will likely lead to more legal wrangling
Jen Robinson, Assange’s legal counsel, has said that they are going to appeal.
Gusenbauer noted that the decision to authorize extradition is not the last option, and that there will be appeals available.
“Wikileaks asserts that Assange is not a criminal and should be free to continue his work.”
Press freedom has been hindered because of the passage of the Data Protection Bill. Wikileaks is quoted as saying “This is a dark day for Press freedom and British democracy.”
The Home Office said that the courts have not found Extradition of Assange to be a violation of his human rights.
The courts in the UK have not found that it would be an unjust process to extradite Julian Assange back to them. They have also indicated that if he goes there, he will be given a fair trial and freedom to express himself.
