WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will know on Monday if he can be extradited from Britain to the United States to face espionage charges for publishing confidential military documents.
District Judge Vanessa Baraitser is scheduled to deliver her ruling in London’s Old Bailey Court on Monday at 10am. If the petition is granted, Interior Secretary Priti Patel will make the final decision.
The losing side will surely appeal the decision, which could lead to years of more legal disputes.
However, there is the possibility of external actors intervening, which could end the saga that has been going on for a decade.
Stella Morris, Assange’s partner and mother of her two children, has asked U.S. President Donald Trump on Twitter to grant Assange a pardon before he leaves office on January 20th.
And even if Trump doesn’t, there are assumptions that his successor, Joe Biden, could take a more lenient approach to Assange’s extradition process.
U.S. prosecutors have charged Assange, 49, with 17 counts of espionage and misuse of computers that carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.
Lawyers representing the U.S. government said in their final allegations after a four-week hearing in the fall that Assange’s defense team had raised issues that were neither relevant nor admissible.
“The defense systematically asks this court to rule, or act on the basis of the presentation, that the United States of America is guilty of torture, war crimes, homicide, violations of diplomatic and international law, and that the United States of America is a ‘lawless state,’ “the lawyers said.” These requests are not only not legally enforceable in this process, but they should never have been made. “
The defense alleged that Assange is entitled to the protections granted by the First Amendment – of the US Constitution – for the publication of leaked documents exposing the US Army’s wrongful actions in Iraq. and Afghanistan and that the extradition requested by the United States was motivated by political issues.
In its final written allegations, Assange’s team accused the United States of an “extraordinary, unprecedented and politicized” trial that constitutes a “flagrant denial of its right to freedom of expression and representation.” a fundamental threat to freedom of expression worldwide. “