The British government signed the extradition of the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, to the United States, where they want to try him for espionage with the possibility of sentencing him to up to 175 years in prison if he is found guilty of publishing as of 2010 in WikiLeaks of some 700,000 secret US military and diplomatic documents, mostly on Iraq and Afghanistan.
WikiLeaks and relatives of Assange announced that they will appeal the decision and lamented a “black day for freedom of the press and British democracy.”
The deputy spokesman of the United Nations Organization, Farhan Aziz Haq stated: “We hope that due process is fully followed and that all international standards and human rights are respected.” “It is not the practice of the United Nations to question judicial decisions. So we are letting the courts have their way,” he said.
In April, the British justice issued the formal order to hand over to Washington the founder of WikiLeaksafter a legal fight of several years, but it was up to the Minister of the Interior, Priti Patel, to sign the decree, which has already happened.
According to an (anonymous) official from the British Home Office, “The British courts did not conclude that it was oppressive, unfair or a procedural abuse to extradite Assange. Nor that the delivery to the United States justice system was incompatible with her rights, including the guarantee of a fair trial, and with freedom of expression. He added that Washington promised to treat him well and take care of her health.
Violating the conditions of his parole in the UK, the founder of WikiLeaks he took refuge, in 2012, in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid being extradited to Sweden for a sexual violation lawsuit that was later dropped. He then alluded that those charges were part of a strategy to hand him over to the United States.
Organizations defending press freedom, such as Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International, oppose this extradition because they fear that Assange will be subjected to solitary confinement in prison.
“Any country that cares about freedom of expression should be ashamed to see that the Home Secretary approved the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States, the country that conspired to assassinate him,” Stella Assange said in a statement.
“Julian has done nothing wrong. He has not committed any crime, he is not a criminal. He is a journalist, an editor and he is punished for having done his job, ”explained the lawyer, who married Assange in March when he was a refugee in the Ecuadorian embassy.
