Assange's extradition request set for January 4 by justice

Supporters of Julian Assange in front of the British court of justice, February 24, 2020. -

British justice set Thursday for January 4 its decision on the extradition request of Julian Assange, claimed by the United States which wants to judge him for the dissemination of hundreds of thousands of confidential documents.

Pending this decision, expected after the US presidential election of November 3, the founder of WikiLeaks will remain imprisoned, said Judge Vanessa Baraitser after nearly four weeks of hearings at the Old Bailey criminal court, in London.

American justice wants to try the 49-year-old Australian, in particular for espionage.

He faces 175 years in prison for having disseminated, from 2010, more than 700,000 classified documents on American military and diplomatic activities, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A "political" procedure, according to Julian Assange's lawyers

The United States accuses the founder of WikiLeaks of having endangered the sources of the American services, which he disputes.

Among the documents released was a video showing civilians killed by US gunship fire in Iraq in July 2007, including two journalists from Reuters.

Julian Assange's lawyers denounce a “political” procedure based on “lies”.

However, according to them, the American-British agreement according to her “expressly” prohibits extraditions for “political offenses”.

It is up to the British justice system to determine whether the American request for extradition submitted to it meets a certain number of legal criteria, and in particular if it is not disproportionate or incompatible with human rights.

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• Wikileaks

• Julian Assange

• Extradition

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• UK