The extradition order of Julian Assange, which the USA is pursuing because of the files he published on the “secret intelligence news” site named WikiLeaks, was signed by British Interior Minister Priti Patel.
The US wants to prosecute Assange on charges such as obtaining secret files from Afghanistan and Iraq operations, publishing them for alleged crimes against civilians, and espionage activities.
While Assange denied the accusations at every opportunity, his lawyers stated that they had the right to appeal the extradition decision within two weeks.
WikiLeaks, the secret intelligence site founded by Assange, stated that today is “a black day for press freedom and British democracy” and made a statement containing expressions such as “the fight is not over, just a new legal struggle has begun”.
Emphasizing that everyone who values freedom of expression should be ashamed of this decision, which was approved by the Ministry of Interior, Wikileaks accused the USA of setting up a trap to kill Assange.
Stella Moris, a lawyer from the defense team and also the wife of Assange, who made a statement to the journalists after the decision, repeated the same claim by saying, “The Minister of Interior approved his transfer to a country that planned to kill him.”
“By making such a decision, Secretary of the Interior Patel also confirms the crimes committed by the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Moris said.
His defenders argued that Assange was a political prisoner and therefore the decision was also contrary to the extradition terms between the two countries.
Stella Moris, claiming that her husband is a political prisoner, stated that he will try every legal way to prevent her from being extradited to the USA, and promised to fight for justice whenever she is standing.
Assange was dragged out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2019, 7 years later, and placed in the high-security Belmarsh Prison in England.
The extradition attempt initiated by the USA was rejected by the first court in which this issue was seen, on the grounds that Assange was suicidal due to his mental health and “we could not be sure that there is a system to prevent this in US prisons”.
While the USA, which reversed this decision with an appeal, came one step closer to welcoming Assange, Amnesty International evaluated that the UK gave a “terrifying message” to journalists with this decision.