WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may “soon” lose a legal battle to prevent his extradition to the US, which wants to prosecute him for “espionage”, the website’s editor-in-chief Christian Harffson told a German news agency in London on Monday. .

The 51-year-old Australian is still awaiting a decision on an appeal filed by his lawyers following a British court ruling in the summer of 2022. The British government had previously approved Mr. Assange’s extradition requested by the US Department of Justice.

For Mr Hrafnson, rejecting Julian Assange’s appeal would be a “scandal”, but in his case “anything is possible”.

The 60-year-old Icelandic investigative journalist noted that even in this case, there are legitimate options, such as a request for a review of the case, appeal to the Supreme Court or the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), but all of them can be sold out “within a few weeks “.

In addition, it is unclear whether the Tory government will even consider the decision of the ECtHR, Mr. Hraffson said.

Over 10 years

The legal tug-of-war over the fate of Julian Assange has been going on for more than a decade. If he is extradited to the United States and convicted, he can be imposed imprisonment up to 175 years.

He is accused of “stealing” and divulging tens of thousands of confidential and secret diplomatic and military documents with the help of former military analyst Chelsea Manning.

His supporters counter that Mr. Assange is a journalist who has exposed war crimes, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.

An Australian has been held in Belmars maximum security prison near the British capital for four years after police forcibly arrested him at the Ecuadorian embassy in London after the Latin American country revoked his political asylum.

Recently, the Australian government called for an end to prosecution of the founder of WikiLeaks.

Source: RES-IPE