Great Britain is not allowed to extradite Wikiealks founder Julian Assange to the USA. The competent court in London decided that and based the judgment on the conditions of detention that the 49 – year old Australian would expect. If convicted, they would face up to 175 years imprisonment in the United States. The USA have already announced that they will appeal the decision.

Concern about Assange’s health The judge based her decision, among other things, on the mental health of the Wikileaks founder. It is to be expected that he will commit suicide in solitary confinement. Even during his imprisonment in a maximum security prison in Great Britain, relatives and observers had repeatedly expressed concerns about Assange’s health. During the pandemic, he was only allowed to receive visits to a very limited extent, and phone calls to the outside world were not possible without restrictions British Supreme Court and will ultimately be decided by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Assange has been in a maximum security prison in London since April 2019 years , he had previously found refuge in the London embassy of Ecuador for years. The US is demanding his extradition and accusing him of stealing and publishing secret material from US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan together with Chelsea Manning. Among other things, this put US informants at risk, the allegation is. Others see him as an investigative journalist who brought war crimes to light. The action against him is an attack on the freedom of the press.

The future of press freedom Until recently, various groups had called for Not to extradite Assange to the US, including a group of members of the Bundestag from various parties. The organization Reporters Without Borders even called for the Wikileaks founder to be released immediately. “The USA wants to set an example and have a deterrent effect on media professionals all over the world,” said the managing director of their German section: “The future of journalism and freedom of the press worldwide is at stake here.”

(mho)