With a little hope left, the 12 years run of Julian Assange comes closer to a conclusion as the Home Secretary of the U.K. approves his extradition to United States
On Friday, Home Secretary of the United Kingdom Priti Patel allowed the extradition of Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, to the United States where he will face various criminal charges including espionage.
Julian Assange, one of the most sought-after people by the CIA, is wanted in the USA on 18 counts of releasing confidential US military records and spying. In 2010, Assange published the records of the operations by the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan on his website Wikileaks.
Assange had been imprisoned in Belmarsh prison in the UK since April 2019. Since then, there have been continuous efforts by the US government for his extradition. The order of Home Secretary Priti Patel has brought the 12 years run of Assange closer to a conclusion.
Earlier a UK court ruled that Assange cannot be extradited due to the mental health issues he is facing. The court said that his conviction and imprisonment in a maximum-security prison could lead him to commit suicide. But this decision was overturned after the US government assured of his safety and pledged that he would be transferred to Australia to serve his sentence.
Assange is left with the option to appeal in the London High Court. He has got 14 days to appeal in the London High Court.
Stella Assange, his wife, has confirmed that they would file an appeal in court. Calling the decision a blow to the freedom of expression she said, “We are going to fight this. We are going to use every appeal avenue”.
Reacting to the decision Edward Snowden, the famous whistle-blower, said in a tweet, “Hard to believe, but it looks real. Every serious press freedom group in the world has protested this. It is an appalling symbol of how far the British and American governments’ commitment to human rights has declined”.
Why is Assange Wanted?
Assange founded Wikileaks in 2006 which published censored news and classified information. The publications included corruption in the Arab World, Human Rights violations, drone strikes in Yemen, unrest in Tibet etc.
Wikileaks got worldwide attention when it released a series of classified videos and documents about the US military in 2010. In April, it released the Collateral Murder video which showed US soldiers killing 18 Iraqi civilians while shooting from a helicopter.
In October 2010, Wikileaks published a collection of 391832 US Army field reports named Iraq War Logs. Similarly, it published Afghanistan War Logs. These documents contained classified information about military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the abuse of human rights, the bribery of foreign government members and war crimes committed by the US Army.
The publication of these documents started a stir in the media. The crimes of US Army and conspiracies by the CIA were hugely questioned and criticized by the media and people around the world. Consequently, US authorities issued arrest warrants against Assange for leaking classified documents.
Assange had been on run since 2010. For a long time, he was living in the London embassy of Ecuador, after he sought asylum from Ecuador, till he was handed over to London police in April 2019 by Ecuador officials.
Source- Reuters, Al Jazeera
