(MENAFN- Newsroom Panama)
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is closer to being extradited to the United States after a British judge issued the surrender order on Wednesday, which must now be considered by the UK government.
The sending of this instruction marks a turning point in the case, which began with the initial arrest of the Australian in London in 2010, but it does not mean its end, since there are recourse options for the parties, regardless of the decision made by the Interior Minister, Priti Patel.
At the end of Wednesday's brief hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court, the journalist's wife, Stella Assange asked the crowd of supporters gathered outside the court 'to continue fighting for his release.“The United States demands Assange to prosecute him for 18 crimes of espionage and computer intrusion for the revelations of his portal, which, according to his legal team, can carry up to 175 years in prison.
The main judge of the Court, Paul Golspring, was in charge of issuing the order in a hearing of just seven minutes which the defendant attended by videoconference from the high-security center of Belmarsh,
'In simple terms, I have the duty to send your case to the minister so that she can make a decision,' said the magistrate, thus fulfilling an instruction from the Supreme Court.
Patel now has a period of two months that can be extended to decide whether to confirm or reject the extradition, while the defense has already indicated that it will refute it within the four-week period which ends on May 18.
According to the law, the head of the Interior can only exercise its prerogative to prohibit it in specific cases covered by the 2003 Extradition Law and always in accordance with the agreements with the requesting country,Patel's eventual decision may be appealed by the parties - the US Justice or Assange - but only if the Superior Court authorizes it.
In addition, the defense would ultimately have the option of appealing to the European Court of Human Rights.
Initially arrested at the behest of Sweden for a case of alleged sexual crimes Assange has spent more than a decade confined without being convicted, first under house arrest and between 2012 and 2019 taking refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and then in Belmarsh after being apprehended again at the request of the US.
Between 2010 and 2011, WikiLeaks exposed US abuses at its Guantánamo detention center in Cuba, as well as alleged war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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