US prosecutors maintain that Assange cannot be treated "like an ordinary journalist"
The North American prosecutor's office has requested the immediate extradition of Julian Assange, alleging that the founder of WikiLeaks cannot be treated “like an ordinary journalist”, and that the classified and revealed information from the State Department and the Pentagon (including identification with names and surnames sources) has compromised the security of its intelligence agents.
After the second day of the court hearing, a high British court must decide in the coming days whether or not Assange can appeal the extradition order issued in June 2022 by the then Home Secretary Priti Patel.. This is the 52-year-old Australian activist's last legal charge before the British courts, although he could ultimately take his case to the European Court of Human Rights.
The founder of WikiLeaks also did not attend the hearing on the second day, and did not even follow it from Balmarsh prison where he has been waiting for the final decision since 2019, when he was arrested after his seven-year confinement in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
His wife, Stella Morris, assures that Assange is in “very poor health” and that his life would be in danger if he is extradited and admitted to a North American prison.. “It is no longer possible to save Alexei Navalny, but it is not too late for Julian,” Morris warned in an interview with The Evening Standard.
“The UK has an opportunity to distance itself from Russia,” Morris added.. “In his current prison, Julian is isolated in a cell for 21 hours a day in very harsh conditions.. But it's almost a walk in the park compared to North American maximum security prisons.. “The thought of seeing Julian in a hell hole is absolutely intolerable.”
Dozens of followers gathered again in front of the high court, on London's Strand, demanding freedom for Assange. His lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, warned the day before that the founder of WikiLeaks faces “a flagrant denial of justice” if he is extradited to the United States, where he faces a sentence of 175 years in prison for 17 crimes of espionage, conspiracy and computer fraud.
Fitzgerald stressed that the Espionage Act of 1917 that is planned to be applied to Assange was designed “for times of war” and assured that his client is being tried “for a common journalistic practice: the publication of classified information that is truthful and of public interest.”. The defense closed its intervention by alleging that what is at stake is “freedom of the press.”
At the end of the two-day court hearing, the magistrates reserved the right to rule on the case at the appropriate time and gave no further instructions.