WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange stares at US extradition as trial in London starts today
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be extradited to the United States over the mass leak of secret US documents, the culmination of 13 years of legal battles and detentions.
Two judges at the High Court in London will rule on whether the court is satisfied by US assurances that Assange, 52, would not face the death penalty and could rely on the First Amendment right to free speech if he faced a US trial for spying. Assange's legal team say he could be on a plane across the Atlantic within 24 hours of the decision, could be released from jail, or his case could yet again be bogged down in months of legal battles.
«I have the sense that anything could happen at this stage,» his wife Stella said last week. «Julian could be extradited, or he could be freed.» She said her husband hoped to be in court for the crucial hearing.
WikiLeaks released hundreds of thousands of classified US military documents on Washington's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — the largest security breaches of their kind in US military history — along with swathes of diplomatic cables. The US authorities want to put the Australian-born Assange on trial over 18 charges, nearly all under the Espionage Act, saying his actions were reckless, damaged national security, and endangered the lives of agents. His supporters call the prosecution a travesty, an assault on free speech, and revenge for causing embarrassment.
Detained since 2010
Assange was first arrested in Britain in 2010 on a
