Julian Assange Not on Appeal about Extradition Due to Health

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is in London due to his appeal over a rejected extradition request due to health problems. He was supposed to attend the trial via a video link but has said he doesn’t feel good enough for that.

 

Assange is in prison in the British capital. A court rejected a US extradition request at the beginning of this year because Assange is likely to commit suicide in a US prison due to mental problems.

The Americans believe that Assange is indeed able to stand trial for his actions. They are still trying to convince the British judge by, among other things, assuring the United Kingdom that Assange can serve his prison sentence in his native Australia in the event of an American conviction.

WikiLeaks released thousands of classified US government documents in 2010. Justice in the US has been trying for years to prosecute Assange for, among other things, the publication of military secret documents and espionage. The Australian has been trying to prevent this for a long time, including spending years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Assange was removed from the embassy in 2019 after seven years. He was subsequently sentenced to prison for violating his bail. When he fled into the embassy, he was being investigated in a Swedish abuse investigation that has since been suspended. As a result, Assange feared being extradited to the US via Sweden.