The extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States for espionage was formally approved by a British judge on Wednesday. This is reported by international news agencies. The case is now being forwarded to British Home Secretary Priti Patel, who can sign or refuse the extradition order. Assange can still appeal the decision.
Assange, 50, is suspected of eighteen offenses in the United States, including espionage and hacking government websites. He denies doing anything wrong. Assange has been in prison in London since 2019 and before that he spent seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in the British capital.
Wednesday’s procedural move is part of a long-running and high-profile legal battle by Assange against his extradition to the US. He founded the whistleblower websites WikiLeaks in 2006 and released a large amount of mostly confidential government documents, including about possible US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan and the torture of terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay. According to the US, Assange’s revelations endangered the lives of US military personnel in the Middle East.
Also read: The Fall of Assange and WikiLeaks