UK court to decide on Assange extradition to US in February

A London court will decide in February whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to the US to face 18 criminal charges in connection with the leak of thousands of classified documents relating to US military activity in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Assange appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday by video link from Belmarsh prison, where he is currently serving a 50-week sentence for skipping bail and fleeing to the Ecuadorean embassy in London in 2012.

Assange is fighting the US extradition request which was certified by UK home secretary Sajid Javid on Thursday — although the final decision will rest with the British courts.

Wearing a grey T-shirt and glasses, Assange told the London court that “175 years of my life is effectively at stake” and said he had not seen the latest indictment containing 18 US allegations against him.

These include one count of computer hacking as well as 17 charges accusing him of violating the Espionage Act. These carry a maximum penalty of 10 years for each offence.

Ben Brandon, the barrister acting for the US government, told the hearing that the 18 charges covered “one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States”, and claimed that Assange’s actions had created a “grave risk” for human intelligence sources, including human rights defenders.

Speaking from prison, Assange asked the court to clarify the US allegations that claim he “cracked a password” on a US defence department computer network. He insisted he had not hacked any password and defended WikiLeaks as nothing more than a “publisher”.

Mark Summers QC, Assange’s lawyer, told the court that the case raised “profound issues” and represented an “outrageous and full frontal assault on journalistic rights”.

The court heard that Assange’s lawyers had to post documents to him because he had no access to a computer at the prison.

The case has raised concerns in the US about press freedom and protections for those who publish leaked classified information.

Dozens of Assange supporters gathered outside the court on Friday, chanting and holding banners to protest against his extradition.

At next year’s hearing Assange is likely to argue that his removal to the US breaches his human rights. The US-UK extradition treaty has a standard exception for so-called political offences, which typically includes espionage.

Westminster Magistrates’ Court does not need to decide his innocence or guilt but simply whether the case meets the legal test for extradition. Assange can then challenge any ruling through a lengthy appeals process.

Assange also faces rape charges in Sweden, but this month a Swedish court declined to arrest him in his absence, ruling that he should be questioned in the UK over the allegations rather than extradited to Sweden. He will next appear in court in October.