US Wins Appeal To Extradite Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange From The UK
This came after the London High Court was satisfied with the assurances given by the United States about Assange’s detention conditions.
London: The United States has won an appeal in London High Court regarding Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition from the UK to face criminal charges.
This came after the London High Court was satisfied with the assurances given by the United States about Assange’s detention conditions.
The detention conditions include a pledge not to hold Assange in a so-called “ADX” maximum security prison in Colorado and that he would be transferred to Australia if convicted to serve his sentence.
“The court allows the appeal,” Judge Timothy Holroyde said.
Judge Holroyde said the case must now be remitted to Westminster Magistrates’ Court with the direction judges send it to the British government to decide whether or not Assange should be extradited to the U.S., Reuters reported.
The charges against 50-year-old Australian-born Assange by the United States’ authorities include breaking a spying law and conspiring to hack the government computers.
He has been accused of 18 counts relating to Wikileaks’ release of vast troves of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables which the authorities said had put lives in danger.
The authorities had appealed against a January 4 ruling by a London District Judge that Assange should not be extradited because he would likely commit suicide in a US prison.
WikiLeaks came to light when it published a U.S. military video in 2010 showing an attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad earlier in 2007.
WikiLeaks then released thousands of secret classified files and diplomatic cables.