British court reaches decision - Wikileaks founder can breathe easy

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will not be extradited to the USA for the time being.

In the US, Assange faces up to 175 years imprisonment for publishing secret documents.

• Julian Assange is currently in a UK maximum security prison.

• The decision will be made on Monday whether the Wikileaks founder will be extradited to the USA.

• A British court has rejected the US extradition request.

• This article is continuously updated.

Update from January 4th, 12.30 p.m

.:

Julian Assange

and his supporters can celebrate a small success.

A court in London has

denied Assange's extradition request

.

The UK authorities will not

extradite Assange

due to the prison conditions

awaiting

the Wikileaks founders in the

US

.

The

US

has already announced that it will

appeal the decision

.

Update from January 3rd, 1:08 pm

: On Monday (January 4th) it will be decided whether Julian Assange will be extradited to the USA.

There he faces up to 175 years imprisonment (see first report).

Several members of the Bundestag have called on the British government to intervene in the event of the case before the court decision.

"Should the extradition be legally decided, we call on the British government to

protect against persecution of unpleasant journalists

, not to extradite Julian Assange to the USA and

to prevent

the

Wikileaks founder

from being

transferred

to Washington," said members of the Bundestag working group "Freedom for Julian Assange “On Sunday of the German Press Agency.

"An extradition of Julian Assange to the USA, where he is not facing a fair trial and up to 175 years imprisonment, would endanger his life and would also set precedent for journalists and whistleblowers all over the world," argued Sevim Dagdelen ( Left), Bijan Djir-Sarai (FDP), Frank Heinrich (CDU), Frank Schwabe (SPD) and Margit Stumpp (Greens).

Dagdelen continued: “Should the

court in London

actually decide on an extradition, this show trial, which took place with almost complete exclusion of the public, would come to a highly problematic end from a human rights and rule of law perspective.

Even if the extradition were legally decided, the British government can stop it and prevent the Assange case from becoming a blueprint for the prosecution of unpleasant journalists. ”The left-wing politician wants to be in the London court for the verdict on Monday.

"High-Tech Terrorist": Will Assange be extradited to the US?

Decision is near - 175 years imprisonment threatens

First report from January 3, 11 a.m

.: London -

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has

long polarized

.

Some see him as an advocate of freedom of information, others see him as the "most dangerous man in the world" who tries to evade justice.

A British court announced on Monday whether Assange will be extradited to the

United States

.

There he is to be tried for the publication of 700,000 secret US documents in 2010.

The 49-year-old faces up to

175 years in prison.

Is Julian Assange extradited to the US?

Wikileaks founder awaits decision in London prison

Assange is waiting in the

London maximum security prison Belmarsh

for the decision on his fate - under "inhuman" conditions, as the UN Special Rapporteur Nils Melzer denounced.

At his last appearances in court, the Australian had appeared confused, a psychiatrist certified him

suicide.

Previously, Assange had holed up in the

Ecuadorian embassy in London for

seven years

.

He wanted to prevent his extradition to Sweden and later the USA.

While he was stuck there, he had two children with one of his lawyers, 37-year-old South African Stella Morris.

In April 2019, Assange's Aysl was withdrawn from Ecuador and he was arrested by British police.

Will Wikileaks founder be extradited?

Joe Biden called him a "high-tech terrorist"

Assange studied math, physics and computer science in Melbourne and became a successful

hacker

.

Using the pseudonym "Mendax" - the Latin word for "lying" - he hacked the Nasa and Pentagon websites.

He became an enemy of the state for Washington through the

publication of secret US documents on the platform Wikileaks

2010. The then Vice President * Joe Biden * described the Australian as a "high-tech terrorist".

Assange had founded the platform according to his own statements to "free the press" and to uncover cases of state abuse of power.

One of his biographers once described him as "the most dangerous man in the world".

Assange before delivery?

He lost popularity in the US election in 2016 - Trump: "I love Wikileaks"

After Sweden

initiated

rape and sexual abuse

proceedings against Assange in

2010

, he turned himself in to police in the UK.

He was released subject to certain conditions and applied for asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in June 2012.

The Swedish public prosecutor's office has since dropped the rape allegations against him.

The USA * are sticking to their extradition request.

Assange had already lost popularity before Ecuador turned its back on him - especially since Wikileaks published tens of thousands of

emails from

the Democratic Party *

at the crucial moment of the US presidential campaign * in 2016

.

Many of them came from presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign team.

"I love Wikileaks,"

announced the later Republican election winner Donald Trump. *

A judgment in the British extradition proceedings against the Wikileaks founder #JulianAssange is expected on January 4, 2021.

Negotiations have been going on since March 2020 as to whether the Australian citizen Assange should be extradited from the United Kingdom to the USA.

- Burgtheater (@burgtheater) January 2, 2021

Will Wikileaks founder be extradited?

Hard support core remains loyal to Assange

The

platform rejects

allegations by the

CIA

that Russian agents passed the emails on to Wikileaks.

However, the incident raised suspicions of collusion between Assange and Russia, whose revelations are often to the detriment of the United States and who worked with the Kremlin-affiliated Russian television broadcaster RT.

Assange has remained loyal to a hard core of supporters.

These include actress

Pamela Anderson

and several journalists' associations.

Ex-Federal Foreign Minister

Sigmar Gabriel

(SPD *) has already called for his release.

Whether this will happen or whether Assange will be extradited to the USA will now be decided on Monday.

(kam / afp) * Merkur.de is part of the Ippen digital network.

List of rubric lists: © Facundo Arrizabalaga / dpa / dpa-Bildfunk