On Wednesday, British justice formally gave the green light to the surrender of the 50-year-old Australian to American justice, which is prosecuting him in particular under anti-espionage legislation, but it is up to the British Minister for the 'Inside Priti Patel signing an extradition decree.
Demonstration against the extradition to the United States of the founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange, on April 23, 2022 in Brussels JOHN THYS AFP
"We have four weeks to submit our observations to Priti Patel before she makes her decision. If she signs the decree (...) we will be able to appeal on the substantive issues that have not yet been the subject of a decision. "a call, such as freedom of the press or the political motivation of the prosecution", explained in an interview with AFP Stella Assange, on the sidelines of a demonstration in support of her husband in Brussels.
Demonstration against the extradition to the United States of the founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange, on April 23, 2022 in Brussels JOHN THYS AFP
"The grounds for appeal in the UK are very limited, as the extradition treaty leans heavily in favor of the United States, without allowing the examination of the American allegations (...) We will go all the way to the European Court of human rights if necessary," added the South African lawyer.
"This is a European problem: the heart of democratic values is at stake; what will be decided will have repercussions for everyone, for journalists, everywhere in Europe", she insisted, judging that opens "a window" to raise awareness and put forward "political arguments" in London.
Demonstration against the extradition to the United States of the founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange, on April 23, 2022 in Brussels JOHN THYS AFP
The United States wants to try the founder of WikiLeaks for the dissemination, from 2010, of classified documents on American military and diplomatic activities, in particular in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He faces 175 years in prison.
Julian Assange was arrested in 2019 after spending more than seven years as a refugee in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
He has since been held in a high-security prison near London, where he married Stella Morris, his ex-lawyer, last month.
For Stella Assange, the fate of her husband depends "entirely on politics".
Anxious not to offend Washington, London "was content to say that it was letting justice decide. Now the courts have upheld the extradition order, there is no longer any excuse: the British government must decide alone in the next few weeks if Julian will be extradited", she underlined.
"The British government is placed in a position where it condemns war crimes in Ukraine and will have to show whether it is ready to extradite a journalist for exposing war crimes," she observed.
© 2022 AFP