The moment of truth for Julian Assange: a British court decides this week whether he is extradited to the United States

A large international campaign in defense of Julian Assange, but above all in defense of press freedom, will try this week to stop the imminent extradition of the co-founder of Wikileaks to the United States.

Two judges from the High Court of Justice of England and Wales will hear, over two days of preliminary hearings that begin this Tuesday, the arguments of the Australian

hacker

's defense to defend Assange's right to file an appeal against the decision. final of its delivery, authorized by the Supreme Court in 2022 and confirmed in June of that same year by the then British Minister of the Interior, Priti Patel.

The judges' decision could be announced at the end of Wednesday's session

“His health is deteriorating.

Mentally and physically.

"His life is in danger every day he remains in prison, and he is going to die," warned his wife, lawyer Stella Assange, at a meeting with correspondents organized in London by the Foreign Press Association, in which representatives of Wikileaks

and the organization Reporters Without Borders.

If judges Jeremy Johnson and Victoria Sharp decide to give the green light to extradition, judicial avenues in the United Kingdom would be exhausted for Assange.

There is always the possibility that his lawyers appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, but the deadlines would run against the founder of Wikileaks.

Even if the European court issued an immediate suspension order – the same one with which it stopped the first plane carrying immigrants deported to Rwanda – the British Government would not consider itself obliged to obey it.

Assange spent seven years locked up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and another five in the maximum security prison of Belmarsh, in London, where he remains today.

“He is 52 years old, and is being treated with medication.

In October 2021 he suffered a minor heart attack.

He has had all kinds of health problems since then, after five years confined in a cell two meters wide by three meters long.

He is isolated.

Even though he tries to move inside, he can't do enough,” explained his wife.

A political cause

“The ruling may set a precedent with serious and dark implications for press freedom around the world.

We cannot underestimate the effect that would have if an Australian citizen who published in Europe ended up being sent to prison in the United States,” said Kristinn Hrafnsson, current director of Wikileaks.

“It means that no journalist will be protected in the future,” she warned.

In March 2022, the British Supreme Court gave the green light to extradition.

Assange's lawyers had argued that the possible risk of suicide in an American prison was very high, but they failed to convince the high court justices.

That ruling put an end to a judicial process that began on January 21, 2021, when Judge Vanessa Baraitser, of first instance, denied the surrender of the accused, considering that he presented a risk of suicide and that prison conditions in the United States could exacerbate it.

The hacker

's legal team

finally appealed against the British Government's confirmation of the extradition.

What is decided this week is, simply, whether Assange gets one last chance to legally argue before a court the reasons why he should not be extradited.

And, in the event that the magistrates' decision is negative, it will accelerate delivery times.

There is always the possibility that the new British Home Secretary, James Cleverly, or the Prime Minister himself, Rishi Sunak, decide to stop the delivery.

Former United States President Barack Obama has already commuted the sentence of soldier Chelsea Manning, the main source of the secret US security documents leaked by Wikileaks

.

They exposed

serious

episodes

of

dirty war in Iraq or Afghanistan

.

Were

published after a laborious and complex editing process by international media, among which was EL PAÍS, to prevent anyone from taking unnecessary risks.

Manning served seven years in prison.

The current Australian Government and its Parliament have requested Assange's release.

The legislative chamber approved a resolution last week, with the conservative opposition voting against.

The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, supported the request with his vote, and has conveyed to Washington the desire of his Government that the extradition request be abandoned and Assange be allowed to return to his country.

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