Live Updates: WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange's Extradition Hearing Continues in London

The hearing to decide whether Wikileaks founder Julian Assange should be sent to the United States resumed on 7 September at the London Central Criminal Court, after six months of delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's extradition hearing resumes on 15 September at the Old Bailey, London Central Criminal Court.

The hearing is expected to last at least three weeks, and it is highly probable that the verdict will be appealed by the losing side.

The WikiLeaks founder, who has been locked up at the maximum-security prison Belmarsh since his arrest at the Ecuadoran embassy in London in April 2019, is attending the trial from behind a glass panel, away from his defence team.

Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for violating the terms of his bail back in 2012, when he took refuge inside the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK capital to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced sexual assault charges and possible extradition to the United States.

The WikiLeaks founder has been indicted by the US Department of Justice on 18 charges, mostly regarding violations under the Espionage Act, and is facing extradition from the United Kingdom to the United States. If convicted of these charges, the WikiLeaks founder faces up to 175 years in prison.