Chinanews.com reported on February 25th. On the 24th local time, a court in London, England, began hearing the case of WikiLeaks founder Assange's extradition to the United States. Assange's lawyers said that the United States' attempt to extradite Assange to return to China was partly due to US President Trump's "war against leakers and journalists."

On February 24, local time, people in the San Francisco Bay Area met outside the British Consulate General in San Francisco and demanded the release of Julian Assange, the founder of the "WikiLeaks" website. Photo by China Press Agency reporter Liu Guanguan

According to reports, Assange released secret documents of US military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq through WikiLeaks in 2010. He was accused of violating U.S. espionage laws, including accusations of obtaining, receiving and disclosing confidential information and committing a computer intrusion. It is alleged that if convicted, Assange would face up to 175 years in prison.

In response, Assange's lawyer Fitzgerald Edward Fitzgerald argued that the allegations were "politically motivated" and not any real crime.

Fitzgerald said that in 2013, the US government under then-President Barack Obama had decided that Assange should not face any lawsuits. But in 2017, after Trump was elected president, Assange was prosecuted.

Fitzgerald said that the U.S. overturned the 2013 decision not to prosecute Assange because Trump wanted to use him to "kill chickens and monkeys". "The prosecution was based on motives with ulterior motives and was not intentional."

Data Map: Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks.

In November 2010, Swedish prosecutors charged Assange with rape during his stay in Sweden in August of that year. Assange, who was in the UK, was arrested by British police and denied all charges. The British Supreme Court ruled that he could be extradited to Sweden. In June 2012, Assange entered Ecuador's embassy in the UK during his bail to seek asylum.

In May 2017, Swedish prosecutors announced that they had dropped their investigations into allegations of rape because they believed they could not be extradited "for the foreseeable future."

On April 11, 2019, after Ecuador announced the withdrawal of asylum granted to Assange, British police announced that Assange was arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in the United Kingdom.

On the same day, the Prosecutor's Office of the Eastern District of Virginia issued a statement alleging that Assange was suspected of cracking the password of a US government secret computer and was facing up to 5 years in prison. The United States has requested the British side to extradite Assange on this allegation.

On February 24, 2020, a district court in London, England, opened a trial on whether to agree to extradite Assange. The American lawyer who filed the extradition charge accused Assange of more than ten counts. Assange's lawyer believes that once Assange is convicted, he will face a maximum sentence of 175 years.