WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s life “is at risk” if his final appeal against his extradition to the United States fails, his lawyer says.
Assange is wanted in the United States over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information following the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
He denies any wrongdoing.
The 52-year-old has spent the past four years in Belmarsh prison in London, where he has been since he was dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy in 2019, as he fights US attempts to extradite him.
“As a result of the 13 years he’s been effectively in prison or under house arrest or some form of restrictions on his liberty inside the Ecuadorian embassy, he is really unwell,” Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson told ABC TV.
“Because of the treatment he has suffered, he suffers a major depressive illness, he has been diagnosed as being on the spectrum, and the medical evidence is if he was extradited to the United States those conditions would cause him to commit suicide.
“So his life is at risk and I am not exaggerating that.”
In a January 2021 ruling, then-district judge Vanessa Baraitser said Assange should not be sent to the US, citing a real and “oppressive” risk of suicide, while ruling against the 51-year-old on all other issues.
But US authorities subsequently brought a successful High Court challenge against this decision, paving the way for Assange’s extradition.
In June last year, Assange lost his appeal against a judge’s ruling over whether he should be extradited but he will make his final appeal in the UK High Court in February.
“We have our final appeal against his extradition coming up in February and if we fail, if we are not given permission to appeal, that is the end of the road in the UK and he will be extradited,” international human rights lawyer Robinson said.
“We are hoping that the European Court of Human Rights will step in.
“We will make an application to the European court to try to stop [his extradition] but that’s not guaranteed.”
There were several protests in the UK in 2023 in support of Assange, including from former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray, who said campaigners “will never stop fighting” for Assange’s freedom.
Assange’s wife Stella said in 2023 that “the stakes are very high”.
“They’re high on all sides, not just for Julian’s life and his freedom, but all the press freedoms and the freedom of speech rights that go with him,” she said.
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Why is this not receiving more coverage in the media? All news publication/reporting will be affected if the USA is successful in Assange’s extradition. Surely News Corp would not countenance having its wings clipped should it wish to break a sensational scandal concerning the US.
Every serious journalist should be holding their breath for the February judgement.
When you look at who pays their wages, it’s easy to understand the silence.
This is a disgrace. Chelsea Manning has been free for years. I’m proud of what Julian tried to do and disgusted at the US government
Don’t forget the original charges included multiple sexual assault accusations in Sweden. Had he faced those at the time (they’ve since been with drawn) his outcomes could have been quite different by now . His real problem now is that his original defence team has created a spurious narrative around him being a journalist , turning him into somehwat of a cause celebre (perhaps for their own gratification). This has set a course which is now difficult to reverse. Potentially he has been screwed by both his accusers and his defenders.
How many lives did Assange put at risk?
Why did this freedom fighter only ever target democracies and never authoritarian regimes?
Why did this freedom fighter help authoritarian regimes like Russia undermine Wester democracies?
1. Zero.
2. The clue is in the word ‘democracy’. Authoritarian regimes don’t have to be open. It goes with the job description (plus I’m pretty sure WikiLeaks DID target them).
3. I think you are confusing Julian Assange with Donald Trump. The former been effectively imprisoned, the latter should be.
Very confident reply….
1. How are you so sure? For a start because of 3 he helped Trump and Brexit which has done untold harm.
2. So we just accept authoritarian regimes whilst using the openness of democracies against them? Democracies have laws. Laws made by elected leaders.
Plus can you provide examples where he targeted (rather than assisted) authoritarian regimes?
3. There’s clear evidence of collusion between him and Putin to help Trump. Anyone who helped these men has done untold damage to the world.
Agree, you’d think locally people would pause for thought when offshore it’s widely reported how he met with Farage and Stone, plus others in the ecosystem of Tories, GOP-Trump and Putin….. locally many of the right in politics and media active offshore are nervous too….
Agree, locally we’re offered only a rose coloured glasses view of Assange, misdescribed as a ‘whistleblower’, but not according to many of the left including Mother Jones’ David Corn, alleged that Wikileaks and Assange were responsible for Trump’s election along with RW GOP, Tory & Putin linked grifters.
The outcome we are still observing, but preceded by and described by Corn as: ‘one PR problem with the case is that Assange is a highly unsympathetic character, for he is partly responsible for the damage done by Donald Trump during his presidency: 400,000 or more preventable deaths of Americans in the COVID-19 pandemic’ and a list of other issues…..
See Mother Jones 17 Dec ’21 ‘Denounce Julian Assange. Don’t Extradite Him. The prosecution of the conniving WikiLeaks founder poses a threat to American journalism.’
Many claim Putin does not want him to testify, but that masks how many Anglo Tory, GOP and related media types are very nervous, guess being compromised; including former Oz politicians offshore…..
The outcome we are still observing, but preceded by and described by Corn in Mother Jones as:
‘one PR problem with the case is that Assange is a highly unsympathetic character, for he is partly responsible for the damage done by Donald Trump during his presidency: 400,000 or more preventable deaths of Americans in the COVID-19 pandemic’ and a list of other issues…..
See Mother Jones 17 Dec ’21 ‘Denounce Julian Assange. Don’t Extradite Him. The prosecution of the conniving WikiLeaks founder poses a threat to American journalism.’