London: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange began his final legal challenge in the UK on against his extradition to the US on espionage charges. The UK approved his extradition to the US in 2022 under then Home Secretary Priti Patel after a judge initially blocked it on Assange’s mental health concerns. Assange and his lawyers have appealed since then, Xinhua news agency reported.
Assange, 52, is wanted in the US on allegations of disclosing national defense information following WikiLeaks’s publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked military documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars a decade ago, which included an Apache helicopter video footage documenting the US military gunning down Reuters journalists and children in Baghdad’s streets in 2007, IANS reported.
Assange has been held at southeast London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison since 2019. Lawyers for the US said earlier that he would be allowed to transfer to Australia, his home country, to serve any prison sentence he may be given. If the two judges at the UK High Court rule in Assange’s favor, a full appeal hearing will be scheduled to consider his challenge and could lead to a new decision about his extradition.
According to his legal team, Assange is not attending the hearing as he is unwell. His wife Stella Assange warned last week that his health was “in decline, physically and mentally”.
Holding a placard saying “FREE JULIAN ASSANGE” among hundreds of protesters outside the High Court, local resident Aya Sycamore told Xinhua news agency that she believes the case is “politically motivated”.
