The British magistrates who heard for two days in February the reasons against and in favor of giving the green light to the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States will announce their decision this Tuesday, at 10:30 (11:30 in Spanish peninsular time).
Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson have studied the request of the co-founder of Wikileaks, held for five years in the British maximum security prison of Belmarsh, to try to appeal for the last time before the United Kingdom courts to hand him over to Washington.
The extradition was decided in 2022 by the then Minister of the Interior, Priti Patel, once the Supreme Court accepted the guarantees offered by Washington regarding the safety of the prisoner, and about the measures that would be adopted to prevent him from ending his life. own life.
The US Prosecutor's Office intends to charge the former
hacker
with 17 crimes against the Espionage Act of 1917 and one more of computer interference.
The lawyers of the former Wikileaks editor have argued that the nature of the offenses contemplated in such an anachronistic law is political - the act of espionage is, they have alleged - and that, therefore, it is not contemplated within the extradition treaty between the United Kingdom and United States.
The case against Assange has become a global cause, which has garnered support for the Wikileaks editor from governments, institutions and relevant personalities.
The international campaign organized to prevent the extradition to the United States of the person who today represents more than anyone the need to defend freedom of the press brought important politicians and activists before the doors of the High Court of Justice in London during those two days in February. committed to the battle of Assange's legal team.
The pressure of the campaign in favor of his release is not so much directed towards the judges who have been passing a hot iron between them, but towards the American and British governments, which have in their hands the possibility of stopping the persecution.
“This never had to be a matter resolved in court.
And you don't have to continue down that path.
Let's continue asking the United States to release Assange," Rebecca Vincent, head of the campaign for the
ex-hacker
's release on behalf of the organization Reporters Without Borders, proclaimed before the hundreds of protesters gathered for 48 hours in front of the court.
The Strasbourg road
In the event that the two magistrates allow Assange's extradition, the surrender could take place immediately.
The publisher's legal team is considering the possibility of appealing to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (ECtHR) to obtain an automatic suspension order before deciding whether to agree to study the case.
But even if they obtained an order from this institution to suspend delivery, it remains to be seen what the reaction of Rishi Sunak's British Government would be.
It is precisely these ECHR orders that paralyzed London's attempts to deport irregular migrants to Rwanda.
Downing Street and the hardline Conservative Party have since conspired to ignore these requirements, even if it means disobeying international legality.
The wife of the most famous prisoner in recent years, Stella Assange, already told EL PAÍS, in an interview hours after the court hearing concluded, that extradition to the United States was a risk for the life of the co-founder of Wikileaks. .
“He may die, because he could end up being sentenced to the death penalty.
The British Government itself has admitted that it is incapable of guaranteeing that they will not kill him,” said the lawyer specialized in human rights, who has two children, ages five and six, with Assange.
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