Julian Assange’s fate is decided – risks 175 years in prison

It started with the Wikileaks leak in 2010. A film showing how an American attack helicopter in Iraq was shot down and killed civilians was released to journalists, along with huge amounts of classified material.

– This is of course a unique case. You haven’t seen anything like it, it’s an enormous amount of information, says foreign reporter Bosse Lindwall about the case in Efter fem.

Founder Julian Assange suddenly became a wanted whistleblower who was being hunted by authorities. For 7 years he was able to hide, with the right of asylum, at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he initially applied to avoid a sex crime charge in Sweden.
Since 2019, he has been incarcerated in the British high-security Belmarsh prison in London, and the United States has since tried to have him extradited to them.

In the days Assange’s fate is decided in a British court. If he is extradited to the United States, he risks a 175-year prison sentence for espionage.

Strong reactions about press freedom

The trial has created strong reactions. Amnesty International writes that “global media freedom is on trial”, and Al Jazeera has called it “the world’s most important press freedom trial”.

– It is always unpleasant when authorities, or in this case states like the United States, interfere in what is published. Many of the major revelations in journalism have been based on secret documents, says Bosse Lindwall, and continues:

– But the US defends itself with the fact that it is not the fact that he leaked secret documents, but that he has asked an intelligence person to falsely log in to access secret documents.

It is unclear what consequences an extradition would have

At the same time, it is difficult to know what consequences extradition to the US would have when it comes to press freedom in the world, says Lindwall.

– There is reason to be skeptical when it comes to demarcation. What will be a danger to freedom of the press in the future in that case, if he is extradited to the United States, he asks himself in Efter fem.

At the same time, Lindwall believes that the punishment in the United States, if he is actually extradited there, will not be as high as previously reported.

– The United States has been careful all along to ensure that this will be a proper trial, that it will not go to excess. The likely thing is, say many assessors, that it is about 4-5 years, he says.