The London High Court will rule on Tuesday whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be able to appeal the UK’s extradition to the US, in what could be his last legal challenge in British courts.
The U.S. government, through its prosecutors, wants to prosecute Assange, with 52 years-old, on criminal charges related to WikiLeaks’ publication of U.S. military records and confidential diplomatic cables that exposed war crimes.
Last month, two senior judges of the High Court of London heard for two days evidence presented by their lawyers and those of the United States government on whether to grant him a new appeal against extradition. Julian Assange was absent from court both days and did not follow the video trial due to illness, his lawyer said at the time.
During the two days of legal arguments in February, Assange’s lawyers insisted that the U.S. charges were “political” and that he was being prosecuted “for participating in the ordinary journalistic practice of obtaining and publishing classified information.”
They also argued that the decades-long prison sentence he faced was “disproportionate,” accusing Washington of acting in “bad faith” and contravening his extradition treaty with Britain.
