UK High Court Due to Hand Down Verdict on Julian Assange´s Extradition Case

LONDON (Sputnik) – Two judges from the London High Court are due to hand down on Friday their decision on a US government appeal against a previous ruling by a district magistrate not to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the US.

The hearing, marked as “Judgement hand down” by the London Administrative Court, is scheduled for 10:15 GMT, and the parties will not be attending in person.

In January, UK district judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled against extraditing Assange to the US, citing his fragile mental health and the risk of suicide if sent to a US prison, but the US Department of Justice appealed her decision to the London High Court.

The whistleblower is wanted by the United States on espionage charges after WikiLeaks published thousands of classified documents that shed light on war crimes committed by American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. If put on trial and convicted in the US, the Australian journalist faces up to 175 years in prison.

Assange has been on remand at the Belmarsh high-security prison in southeast London since October 2020, since he served an 11-month sentence for breach of bail after staying in the Ecuadorean embassy in London for seven years.

Whatever the judgment is, the decision is likely to be subject to further appeal by the losing side.

As in previous hearings, Assange´s supporters will gather on Friday outside the Royal Court of Justice in central London in solidarity with the WikiLeaks founder.