Julian Assange: UK court issues extradition order to US for Wikileaks founder

Julian Assange's extradition to the United States took another step forward today, as a London judge ordered his transfer to the nation to face espionage charges.

The founder of WikiLeaks is wanted in the United States for the release of hundreds of thousands of confidential documents related to the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Assange has been attempting to stop the extradition through the courts for years, and in January 2021, a district judge blocked the extradition, stating that if he travelled to America, he would be at serious risk of suicide.

The US, on the other hand, was given the opportunity to appeal the verdict, and the Supreme Court ruled in their favour. 

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Assange's lawyers were told last month that they would be unable to challenge the decision to extradite him to the United States by the UK's highest court.

What is Julian Assange's background, and what wrongdoings has he committed?

Julian Paul Assange is an Australian journalist, publisher, and activist who launched the WikiLeaks website in 2006.

When WikiLeaks published a series of leaks given by US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in 2010, it gained international attention.

Also read | Who is Julian Assange and why is he being extradited to the US?

After WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of secret papers connected to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, Assange is wanted in the United States for an alleged conspiracy to reveal national defence material.

Since April 2019, Assange has been held in London's Belmarsh maximum-security prison.

He has always maintained that he is innocent of any misconduct.

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