Assange files a new appeal against his extradition

A new stage in the legal battle began this Saturday. Julian Assange’s legal team, which had until the end of the month to appeal against the WikiLeaks co-founder’s extradition request by the United States, has filed an appeal with the British High Court. It is no longer about the technical aspects. This time, the lawyers decided to tackle the abusive nature of the procedures: “Julian Assange is prosecuted and punished for his political opinions”. The reasons for the appeal clearly target the US and British authorities, including Home Secretary Priti Patel, who validated the journalist’s extradition in June.

The will is to establish the persecution of the 51-year-old Australian, deprived of his liberty and in detention since December 7, 2010. Charged with 17 counts of espionage by Washington for his revelations published in 2010 concerning crimes of war in Iraq, in Afghanistan on the part of the American and British army, the latter risks up to 175 years in prison. “Overwhelming evidence has emerged proving that the US lawsuit against my husband is criminal abuse. The High Court judges will now decide whether Julian has the opportunity to take the case against the United States to a public court, and in its entirety, on appeal”, reacted Stella Assange. The lawyer and wife of the journalist also recalled his worrying state of health while Julian Assange has been living for three years in the high security prison of Belmarsh. Various medical reports concluded that there was a real risk to his life by remaining in prison and the possibility of suicide. The United Nations, through its special rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer, had already denounced in 2020 “arbitrary detention, exposure to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.

In this procedure, they can now count since August 25 on the support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet. In Geneva, she met the lawyers of Julian Assange, Baltasar Garzón, Aitor Martínez and Stella Assange. She questions on the basis of the procedure which attacks freedom of information: « Journalist is being prosecuted for publishing truthful information about serious international crimes committed by the US military ». The other remark made by Michelle Bachelet concerns “the abusive extraterritoriality deployed by the United States” who persecutes “a foreign journalist who has published abroad and who has no connection with your jurisdiction”. On the extradition to the United States which has been validated by justice and the British government, the high commissioner has a very different opinion. How can you imagine transferring Julian Assange to the United States when agents of the CIA – an American agency – had planned his kidnapping and even his assassination at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The struggle for his release continues. A rally is planned outside the British parliament on October 8.