As of: February 20, 2024, 11:10 a.m
By: Stefan Krieger
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The legal tug-of-war over Julian Assange's extradition could soon be over.
The US judiciary is pushing for a quick decision.
London – Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been in British custody for almost five years.
A decision will now be made in London as to whether Assange will be extradited to the USA - or whether Assange can continue to take action against it in the British courts.
In the USA, the native Australian is to be handed over to justice for publishing secret documents and violating the anti-espionage law.
The legal tug of war surrounding Assange has preoccupied the world for years.
The 52-year-old faces a life sentence in the USA.
Assange and his supporters criticize his prosecution as politically motivated.
Wikileaks published more than ten million documents
Wikileaks became known to the general public in 2009 when the platform published hundreds of thousands of messages from radio message receivers, so-called pagers.
The messages were sent on the day of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
From November 2010, the platform published more than 250,000 classified documents
with the help of major international media companies - including the German magazine
Spiegel .
This leak, called “Cablegate,” partially exposed U.S. activities in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
This also involved the killing of civilians and the mistreatment of prisoners.
Vigil for Julian Assange in Melbourne.
© James Ross/dpa
With the publication, Assange became an enemy of the US state.
According to its own information, Wikileaks published a total of more than ten million documents in the areas of politics, finance and entertainment.
Wikileaks: A Chronology
2010
From July to October, the disclosure platform Wikileaks publishes around 470,000 classified documents that have to do with US diplomatic activities and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Another 250,000 documents will be added later.
The papers contain explosive information about US operations in these countries, including the killing of civilians and the mistreatment of prisoners.
In November, the Swedish public prosecutor's office obtained an international arrest warrant against Assange.
He is accused of rape and sexual violence against two women.
Assange denies the accusation and shortly afterwards turns himself in to the police in London.
He is released on bail pending a decision on Sweden's extradition request.
2011
In February, a British court grants the Swedish extradition request.
Assange expresses concern: He fears that Sweden could extradite him to the USA.
2012
Assange flees to the Ecuadorian embassy in London in June and successfully applies for political asylum.
2016
Before the US presidential election, Wikileaks published around 20,000 emails from the Democratic party apparatus.
They come from the campaign team of candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who ultimately lost the election to Donald Trump.
2017
The public prosecutor in Sweden ends the investigation against Assange.
2018
Ecuador says it is looking for a mediator to end Assange's "untenable" situation.
In March, embassy staff cut off Assange's communications access.
A document appears in the USA according to which charges were apparently secretly brought against Assange.
2019
Ecuador's President Lenín Moreno says Assange has "repeatedly violated" the conditions of his embassy asylum.
After seven years in the embassy, British police arrested Assange in April after his asylum was withdrawn.
In May, the Australian was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for breaching bail conditions.
At the end of May, the US justice system intensified its charges against Assange.
The Wikileaks founder is now also accused of violating anti-espionage laws.
2020
The main hearing in the extradition proceedings against Assange begins in London at the end of February.
In April it was revealed that the WikiLeaks founder became a father twice during his asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy.
This is revealed by the mother of the two little boys, Stella Moris.
She was a member of Assange's legal team and says she has been engaged to him since 2017.
The extradition process, which was interrupted due to the corona pandemic, will continue at the beginning of September.
A psychiatrist certifies that Assange is at risk of suicide in court.
The Australian is highly depressed and has hallucinations.
2021
The responsible London court decides on January 4th that Assange may not be extradited to the USA.
Because of the strict prison conditions in the United States, there is a “significant” risk that Assange could take his own life in prison.
The US government is appealing.
In December, the High Court in London ruled in favor of the US side and lifted the extradition ban.
Shortly afterwards, Assange's fiancée Moris announced that the Wikileaks founder had suffered a mild stroke at the end of October.
2022
Assange goes to the Supreme Court in London in January.
However, on March 14, the Supreme Court decided not to hear the Australian's appeal against his extradition.
Assange and Moris are getting married on March 23rd.
They exchange vows in Belmarsh maximum security prison in south London.
On April 20, Westminster Magistrates Court finally made an extradition order.
On June 17, Home Secretary Priti Patel signed the extradition order.
Assange filed an appeal against this at the beginning of July.
2024
A hearing is scheduled for February 20th and 21st at the High Court in London.
If the objection is rejected, extradition proceedings against Assange would begin.
However, his supporters have announced that they will take this case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to have the extradition stayed.
Stella Moris, lawyer in Assange's former legal team and mother of his two sons.
© Dominic Lipinski/dpa
Appeals for Assange's release also come from Germany
Human rights organizations and journalists' associations around the world are campaigning for the 52-year-old's release.
Shortly before the start of the hearing in London, the chairwoman of the German Journalists' Union (dju), Tina Groll, called for an end to the prosecution.
By rejecting the US extradition request, the British judiciary could send an “unmistakable signal for basic democratic values,” said Groll.
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“Wikileaks played a significant role in ensuring that the world public learned about the dirty side of the US war missions,” emphasized the Federal Chairman of the German Journalists Association, Mika Beuster.
“Julian Assange deserves awards for this, not imprisonment.”
Wikileaks founder Assange hopes for a political solution
Since his arrest in April 2019, Assange has been held at the high-security Belmarsh facility in London.
In addition to a legal breakthrough, he is also striving for a political solution.
The Australian government has now begun to campaign for the release of its citizen.
Recently, the Australian Parliament passed a resolution calling on the US and UK to stop prosecuting Assange.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stressed that the matter had already dragged on for too long.
Nevertheless, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has repeatedly rejected calls for an end to law enforcement.
(skr/dpa/afp)