This Wednesday, February 21, the two hearings concluded at the High Court in London to determine whether the founder of Wikileaks can continue appealing to the courts in the United Kingdom to stop his extradition to the United States, authorized by the British Government in 2022. During the second and last hearing that gave way to the ongoing deliberations, Washington's legal representatives assured that the Australian journalist is wanted for “indiscriminately” publishing sources of information from the first power.
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The deliberations of the High Court of London are underway, after concluding the hearings with which the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, tries to stop his extradition to the United States.
The defense lawyers assured the court in the British capital, in the first hearing on Tuesday, February 20, that the case against their client is politically motivatedarguing that Assange was targeted for his exposure of “state-level crimes” and that former US President Donald Trump had requested “detailed options” on how to kill him.
However, during the second hearing this Wednesday, Washington representatives denied these accusations and assured that Assange's process is “based on the rule of law and evidence.”
The appellant's prosecution may be unprecedented, but what he did was unprecedented (…) Assange knowingly and indiscriminately published to the world the names of people who acted as sources of information for the United States. “It is these facts that distinguish him, not his political opinions,” said Clair Dobbin, legal representative of the United States in this case.
The American lawyer also responded to Assange's defense who cited an alleged plan by the first power to kidnap or murder the Australian journalist, while he was at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Dobbin claimed that the United States had given assurances about how Assange would be treated, which “completely undermines this suggestion that anything could happen to him.”
Assange's lawyers say the United States could impose a sentence of up to 175 years, but it will likely be at least 30 to 40 years. US prosecutors have said it would be no more than 63 months.
But doubts persist. The accusing party also acknowledged before the British judges that the American Justice system does not have any mechanism to guarantee that the communicator is not sentenced to the death penalty.
Assange's wife maintains that her lawyers would ask European judges for an emergency court order, if necessary.
Assange awaits a response on his extradition after concluding two days of hearings
The High Court of London indicated that it will decide as soon as possible, although without specifying a date, if it authorizes Assange to continue appealing to Justice in British territory to cancel the United States extradition request, which has already been approved by the United Kingdom Government. two years ago.
And if the judges' deliberation is positive for Assange's request, he will be able to continue with a full appeal of the case, while if the opposite happens, his surrender to Washington could be activated.
However, the Australian journalist can also go to the European Court of Human Rights, as a last resort, in his already extended legal battle so that he is not transferred to a country where he claims that he would not have a fair trial and where he runs the risk of being be sentenced to death penalty.
Assange is requested for extradition to face 17 charges for violating the US espionage law after he published the controversial WikiLeaks files in 2010; a package of 500,000 secret files on the US military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan where dozens of irregularities, crimes and excesses were exposed.
Among the files, a video stood out in which US combat helicopters were seen shooting at civilians in Iraq – in 2007 –, a specific attack that left a dozen civilians dead, including two journalists from the Reuters news agency.
With Reuters, EFE and local media
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