WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may still be extradited to the United States. A British court overturned a previous lower court ruling last Friday that extradition is not possible because of his poor mental health. Amnesty International considers this decision a mockery of the law because it does not recognise that Assange is at risk of serious human rights violations if he is extradited.
‘The Supreme Court has chosen to accept that the US does not offer sufficient diplomatic guarantees to prevent Assange from being held in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison’, says Nils Muižnieks, of Amnesty International.
‘The US has reserved the right to change its mind at any time. This means that these guarantees are not worth the paper on which they are written.’
If Julian Assange is extradited to the United States, he cannot be prosecuted on charges of espionage alone. According to Amnesty, he runs a real risk of serious human rights violations as a result of detention conditions that may amount to torture or other forms of ill-treatment.
‘The indictment of the US government poses a serious threat to press freedom, both in the United States and abroad,’ says Nils Muižnieks. ‘If these charges were to remain, it would undermine the key role of journalists and publicists in investigating governments and exposing their misdeeds. Journalists should now look over their shoulder.’
The US extradition request is based on allegations directly related to the publication of leaked secret documents via Julian Assange’s platform Wikileaks.
The ability to publish information that is in the public interest is a basic principle of freedom of the press and the public’s right to information about public misconduct. It is also protected by international human rights law and should not be criminalised.
Julian Assange is the first publicist to be indicted under the Espionage Act.
The British Supreme Court ignored a ruling by the British court in January. The court ruled that Assange could not be extradited for fear of his mental health. The United States appealed.
The United States wants Assange extradited to stand trial for espionage, publishing dangerous information on WikiLeaks and actively recruiting hackers. In the United States, Assange is potentially facing 175 years of prison.
In response, Assange’s fiancée Stella Moris (38) calls the decision of the Supreme Court dangerous and a serious miscarriage of Justice. Moris: ‘How can it be fair, good or possible to extradite Julian to a country that wants to kill him?’
According to his fiancée, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (50) had a minor stroke in prison in October. That happened on the day that the United States appeal on the extradition of Assange began.
According to her, it is a tia, a temporary closure of a blood vessel in the brain. As a result, Assange got a drooping right eyelid, brain damage and memory loss, according to the lawyer who has two sons with the born Australian. Who underwent an MRI after his mini-stroke and has been taking medication since then to prevent recurrence.