Wikileaks boss fears extradition to the US
Assange does not want to surrender because he fears being extradited to the US, where he believes he could face the death penalty under the Espionage Act.
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Julian Assange leaves Southwark Crown Court in London on May 1 after being sentenced. Photo:Reuters. |
Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, England, today opened a hearing on the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to face prosecution on charges of conspiring with Chelsea Manning, a US military intelligence analyst, to steal many secret documents from the Pentagon.
Asked if he would accept extradition to the US, Assange replied via video link from a British prison that he did not want to surrender because he did not want to be extradited to the US.
"I do not want to surrender to extradition because what I have done has won many awards and protected many people," Assange said. "I consider that a refusal," the judge replied.
Westminster Magistrates Court adjourned the hearing until May 30, with a more substantial hearing scheduled for June 12. Assange’s supporters protested outside the court, holding banners demanding the court release him and reject the US extradition request.
The hearing comes a day after Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison at Southwark Crown Court in London for breaching bail in 2012.
Washington on April 11 accused Assange of hacking into government computers. He could face up to five years in prison if convicted by a US court. However, Assange and his supporters say he could face the death penalty amid concerns that the US is preparing more serious charges under the Espionage Act.
Assange, a 47-year-old Australian citizen, founded Wikileaks, an international non-profit organization specializing in disclosing classified information, in 2006. Wikileaks shocked the world in 2010 when it published thousands of classified documents from the Pentagon regarding US military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan. That same year, Wikileaks continued to release more than 250,000 US State Department documents containing sensitive assessments of foreign governments and politicians.
Assange was arrested by British police on April 11 after Ecuador revoked his political asylum. He had been living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden to face charges of sexual assault and rape. Sweden dropped its investigation into Assange over the allegations in May 2017.
