Julian Assange’s supporters see the prospect of Assange’s extradition from Britain to the US to face espionage charges as a profound blow to press freedom. Detractors view it as a belated moment of justice catching up with a man who tried to destabilize American democracy by publishing secrets about Iraq and Afghanistan. The Economist went one further, suggesting that dumping unredacted data online was the act of a 'useful idiot'.
Complicating matters further, Assange’s wife, Stella, said in February 2024 that Assange’s health is declining while he awaits the extradition decision in a British high-security prison, so incarceration in the US could be a de facto death sentence.
Here’s what you need to know.
Julian Assange at the Frontline Club, 2011 / Photo Credit: Caroline Byrne
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Julian Assange’s supporters see the prospect of Assange’s extradition from Britain to the US to face espionage charges as a profound blow to press freedom. Detractors view it as a belated moment of justice catching up with a man who tried to destabilize American democracy by publishing secrets about Iraq and Afghanistan. The Economist went one further, suggesting that dumping unredacted data online was the act of a 'useful idiot'.
Complicating matters further, Assange’s wife, Stella, said in February 2024 that Assange’s health is declining while he awaits the extradition decision in a British high-security prison, so incarceration in the US could be a de facto death sentence.
Here’s what you need to know.
Julian Assange at the Frontline Club, 2011 / Photo Credit: Caroline Byrne
Born in Australia on July 3, 1971, Julian Assange was a convicted teen hacker (he pleaded guilty to 24 counts in Melbourne, according to The Guardian) but was treated leniently as the judge found no malicious intent. Assange founded WikiLeaks in 2006 and gained notoriety in 2010 when WikiLeaks published leaks from American whistleblower and former intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. The footage included a US airstrike in Baghdad, military logs from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and diplomatic cables. Assange has also published documents involving Tibetan unrest, and political killings in Kenya.
Why was he locked in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London?
While Assange faced extradition to Sweden on unrelated charges (later dropped), he sought refuge in Ecuador’s London Embassy in 2012 for seven years. He was forcefully brought out in April 2019 and arrested for bail violation.
What charges does Assange face if extradited to the US?
He faces 17 counts of espionage from a District Court in East Virginia, a result of his 2010 publication of hundreds of thousands of pages of classified US military documents on the WikiLeaks website. US prosecutors accused Assange of conspiring with Manning to hack the Pentagon’s servers.
What are the arguments for and against Assange’s US extradition?
Argument in favor of extradition - PJ Cowley, former US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, branded Assange an ‘activist’, not a journalist, telling the BBC that the leak of secret cables in 2010 resulted in at least one intelligence source being thrown in jail and put others in harm’s way. “Given what he has done, the United States has a valid interest in seeking his extradition."
Argument against extradition - Assange lawyer Edward Fitzgerald argues that his client is being prosecuted for engaging in ‘ordinary journalistic practice’ of obtaining and publishing classified information that is of obvious and important public interest: “Julian Assange and WikiLeaks were responsible for the exposure of criminality on the part of the US government on an unprecedented scale.”
What sentence does Assange face if found guilty in the US?
Assange faces charges under the Espionage Act of 1917 that carry a potential prison sentence of up to 175 years, although US government lawyers have previously mooted a more conservative estimate of four to six years.
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