UK court allows extradition of Julian Assange to US

UK home secretary Priti Patel will ultimately decide whether to extradite Julian Assange to the US to face espionage charges.

It was a “brief but significant moment in the case” for Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange to appear via videolink at the Westminster magistrates court hearing.

He told the chief magistrate that he had no choice but to hand over the case to the Home Secretary, Mark Summers QC, for Assange Assange’s team could not present new evidence at this time, he said, but there had been “fresh developments.”

A “serious submission” to the home secretary on US sentencing and conditions, according to Summers, had been promised to the home secretary.

The brief hearing was held after Assange’s appeal against his extradition was denied by the Supreme Court last month. He was trying to overturn a December high court decision that said he could be extradited to the United States after assurances from US authorities about his detention conditions.

During the seven-minute hearing, Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring issued an extradition order.

‘In layman’s terms, I am duty bound,’ Goldspring told Assange.

Additionally, Assange’s legal team has access to a number of other avenues to fight his extradition. This could include bringing an appeal on other issues of law that he raised in first instance but lost.

Video link from Belmarsh prison, where he was married to Stella Moris last month, Assange appeared and spoke only to confirm his own identity.

An enthusiastic crowd had gathered outside of Westminster magistrates court to cheer on Moris, including ex-Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Home Secretary Theresa May should take her “huge responsibility” to protect free speech, journalism and democracy seriously, Jeremy Corbyn said at a press conference today.

As he told reporters, “I think he deserves to be thanked for nothing more than telling the world about military planning, military policies, and the horrors of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

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