UK court to rule on U.S. appeal to extradite Julian Assange

Record ID: 1650640

  • Title: UK court to rule on U.S. appeal to extradite Julian Assange
  • Date: 9th December 2021
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - JANUARY 4, 2021) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS OF ASSANGE CELEBRATING OUTSIDE COURT IN LONDON AFTER JUDGE REJECTS U.S, EXTRADITION REQUEST ONE MAN SHOUTING "Free Assange! Free Assange!"
  • Embargoed: 23rd December 2021 19:20
  • Keywords: Ecuadorian embassy Julian Assange London United States Wikileaks founder appeal arrest warrant extradition hearing
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Europe,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA00XF7C0F2F
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES
    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS PROFANE LANGUAGE
    A UK court on Friday (December 10) is expected to hand down a decision on a U.S. appeal against a ruling that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange should not be extradited.
    The 50-year-old Australian is wanted in the United States to face trial on 18 charges including breaking an espionage law, after WikiLeaks published thousands of secret U.S. files and diplomatic cables in 2010.
    Assange, who denies any wrongdoing, is being held at Belmarsh Prison.
    The United States Government is appealing against a Jan. 4 ruling by a British judge that Assange should not be extradited because his mental health was such that he would likely commit suicide in a U.S. prison.
    U.S. prosecutors and Western security officials regard Assange as a reckless enemy of the state whose actions threatened the lives of agents named in the leaked material.
    Supporters pit him as an anti-establishment hero who exposed U.S. wrongdoing in Afghanistan and Iraq, and say his prosecution is a politically-motivated assault on journalism that gives a free pass to oppressive regimes around the world.
    WikiLeaks came to prominence when it published a U.S. military video in 2010 showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff.
    An effort to extradite him was launched in 2019 after he was detained in London after taking refuge in Ecuador's embassy in the British capital for seven years to avoid being extradited to Sweden.
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