London on Friday approved the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. To united stateswhere he is accused of having disclosed confidential documents and could receive a sentence of up to 175 years in prison.
“Under the 2003 law on extradition, the minister will sign an order if there is no reason to prohibit it,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior, confirming that minister Priti Patel had signed the decree. to transfer the journalist, who You have 15 days to appeal this decision.
The WikiLeaks portal called it a “dark day for freedom of the press and British democracy” the UK decision.
“Anyone in this country who cares about freedom of expression should be deeply ashamed that the Home Secretary has approved his extradition to the US, the country that planned his assassination,” he said in a statement posted on social media.
In that text, WikiLeaks anticipated that it will appeal the decision, something that it can only do if the British High Court authorizes it, with the possibility of ultimately going to the European Court of Human Rights.
In April, the British justice issued the formal order to hand over the founder of WikiLeaks to Washington, after a judicial saga of several years, but It was up to the British Home Secretary, Priti Patel, to sign the decreesomething he did on Friday.
“Under the 2003 law on extradition, the minister must sign an extradition order if there is no reason to prohibit it,” said a spokesman for the interior ministry.
According to the spokesman, “the British courts they did not conclude that it was oppressive, unfair or a procedural abuse extradite Mr Assange. They also did not conclude that the extradition was incompatible with his rights, including the right to a fair trial, and with freedom of expression and (guaranteed) that during his stay in the United States he will be treated appropriately, also with respect to his health.” .
Journalists’ organizations and human rights groups had called on London to reject Washington’s request.
For her part, the secretary general of Amnesty International, Agnes Callamard, said this Friday that the extradition “would put (Assange) in danger and sends a chilling message to journalists around the world“.
“If the extradition goes ahead, Amnesty International is extremely concerned that Assange will face a high risk of prolonged solitary confinementwhich would violate the prohibition on torture or other ill-treatment,” he added. “Diplomatic assurances given by the United States that Assange will not be held in solitary confinement cannot be taken into account given the record.”
The US indictment against Assange
The United States wants to try him for espionage and could sentence him to up to 175 years in prison if he is found guilty of the publication from 2010 on WikiLeaks of some 700,000 US military and diplomatic documents secrets, especially about Iraq and Afghanistan.
Assange was detained in 2019 in the London high-security prison of Belmarsh after the British police arrested him at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, once the then president Lenín Moreno withdrew the protection that his predecessor Rafael Correa had granted him. .
Violating the conditions of his parole in the UK, the WikiLeaks founder took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden on rape charges that were later dropped.
Denying these charges, he already stated that he feared that everything was a strategy to hand him over to the United States.