Crucial Hearing Today in Julian Assange’s Extradition Battle.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is set to attend a pivotal court hearing in London that may prove definitive in his decade-long legal saga. The UK High Court will rule on US assurances of a fair trial for Assange and no death penalty faced, paving the way for his extradition to America.
The 52-year-old Australian faces 18 charges, mostly under the Espionage Act, for WikiLeaks’ leak of confidential US military records and diplomatic cables from 2010 exposing human rights abuses in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
In a precedent with implications for media freedom, the US wants to prosecute the largest state secrets breach in its history.
The British court had sought guarantees around no detention in maximum security jails or stringent communication curbs for Assange beforehand.
Last month, it gave him three weeks to affirm his ability to invoke free speech rights and close the chapter on potential capital punishment.
Critics argue that if extradited, the security leak publisher may be held indefinitely in solitary confinement under ‘Special Administrative Measures’.
Today’s pronouncement could see Assange a step closer to US prosecution or determine if Europe’s human rights court can still intervene in the case. All eyes are on the outcome
