The High Court in the United Kingdom has just made a surprising ruling about Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange.
The court has declared that he cannot be handed over to the US until a few promises are kept. And that includes not sentencing Assange to the death penalty for his crimes. This means he would be allowed to stand trial regarding the huge number of charges placed against his name.
America has made it very clear how the Wikileaks head has violated the country’s Espionage Act in more than one manner. Therefore, they feel for that reason, he is liable to get a death sentence.
However, the UK does not agree and feels American prosecutors must understand the depth of the situation. They are now being allotted three weeks to generate a response on this front and give Assange protection under the First Amendment that speaks about freedom of speech.
In the same way, they want him to not get a stricter penalty because he is not of US origin as he belongs to Australia.
But if America is not willing to compromise, the UK will give the Wikileaks head the chance to appeal his handing over to America. As it is, his legal team mentioned how their client shouldn’t be given to the US as most of his crimes are politically themed but the country is yet to entertain that. It must also be remembered that he was not present physically at the High Court during Tuesday’s ruling.
The ruling so far is said to be a minor but important victory to a certain extent for Julian Assange as believed by the UK’s high rights group Amnesty International. But still, the decision is not good enough to protect him.
The intentions of the UK handing him over to the US is said to have a certain degree of risk, they added. They know he’ll be subject to serious torture in the country when handed over.
America has time and time argued how it would be safeguarding its rights but not too many individuals are sure about this. They feel the system is very flawed and that any sort of diplomatic assurances done verbally are not enough for protection.
The British National Union of Journalists mentioned how if the Wikileaks head is extradited, it would be a loss of freedom of expression around the globe, damaging the reputation forever.
So as you can see, a lot is riding on this decision and press freedom is one of them. Assange’s treatment by America is not a surprise as they have been doing everything to try and bring Wikileaks to justice since the start of 2010.
This is when the group rolled out a massive trove featuring American diplomatic data that was said to be top secret. As reported by the BBC, he was offered the chance to stay in Ecuador’s Embassy in London and he agreed. This way, he avoided ending up in America’s hands. But soon, that stay ended and did cost the government a fortune as his security was plenty.
We even saw WikiLeaks bring top-secret CIA documents into the public eye in the year 2017. Moreover, one contributor to these files was given a jail sentence of 40 years for assisting and leaking the documents.
We’ve seen the site roll out more similar confidential data in the past too related to other groups such as from one Sony employee in 2015.
For now, another hearing for Assange’s case has been set in the UK for May 20.
Image: DIW-AIgen
Read next: YouTube Enhances Tools and Offers New Tips for Creators
The court has declared that he cannot be handed over to the US until a few promises are kept. And that includes not sentencing Assange to the death penalty for his crimes. This means he would be allowed to stand trial regarding the huge number of charges placed against his name.
America has made it very clear how the Wikileaks head has violated the country’s Espionage Act in more than one manner. Therefore, they feel for that reason, he is liable to get a death sentence.
However, the UK does not agree and feels American prosecutors must understand the depth of the situation. They are now being allotted three weeks to generate a response on this front and give Assange protection under the First Amendment that speaks about freedom of speech.
In the same way, they want him to not get a stricter penalty because he is not of US origin as he belongs to Australia.
But if America is not willing to compromise, the UK will give the Wikileaks head the chance to appeal his handing over to America. As it is, his legal team mentioned how their client shouldn’t be given to the US as most of his crimes are politically themed but the country is yet to entertain that. It must also be remembered that he was not present physically at the High Court during Tuesday’s ruling.
The ruling so far is said to be a minor but important victory to a certain extent for Julian Assange as believed by the UK’s high rights group Amnesty International. But still, the decision is not good enough to protect him.
The intentions of the UK handing him over to the US is said to have a certain degree of risk, they added. They know he’ll be subject to serious torture in the country when handed over.
America has time and time argued how it would be safeguarding its rights but not too many individuals are sure about this. They feel the system is very flawed and that any sort of diplomatic assurances done verbally are not enough for protection.
The British National Union of Journalists mentioned how if the Wikileaks head is extradited, it would be a loss of freedom of expression around the globe, damaging the reputation forever.
So as you can see, a lot is riding on this decision and press freedom is one of them. Assange’s treatment by America is not a surprise as they have been doing everything to try and bring Wikileaks to justice since the start of 2010.
This is when the group rolled out a massive trove featuring American diplomatic data that was said to be top secret. As reported by the BBC, he was offered the chance to stay in Ecuador’s Embassy in London and he agreed. This way, he avoided ending up in America’s hands. But soon, that stay ended and did cost the government a fortune as his security was plenty.
We even saw WikiLeaks bring top-secret CIA documents into the public eye in the year 2017. Moreover, one contributor to these files was given a jail sentence of 40 years for assisting and leaking the documents.
We’ve seen the site roll out more similar confidential data in the past too related to other groups such as from one Sony employee in 2015.
For now, another hearing for Assange’s case has been set in the UK for May 20.
Image: DIW-AIgen
Read next: YouTube Enhances Tools and Offers New Tips for Creators
