Wikileaks founder Julian Assange could be extradited to the United States. A UK court has issued a formal order to extradite Assange to the US, where he will face trial over leaking secret files related to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Following the court's order, the decision of extradition is awaiting approval from interior minister Priti Patel. Once the extradition order is signed by Patel, Assange's lawyers can try to challenge the decision by judicial review, which would involve a judge examining the legitimacy of the court's decision.
Assange's legal battles
Assange is wanted in the United States for 18 crimes, including breaking a spying law after he published thousands of secret US files in 2010. He was in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London for seven years, post which he has been held at South London's high-security Belmarsh Prison since 2019.
Last month, Britain's Supreme Court refused WikiLeaks founder permission to appeal against a High Court decision to extradite him to the US to face espionage charges. In December 2021, Britain's High Court ruled that Assange can be extradited to the US, as it overturned a lower court ruling based on concerns about Assange's mental health and risk of suicide in a maximum-security prison in the US.
