BREAKING NEWS: Julian Assange extradition approved by UK Home Secretary

The last step in the extradition of Julian Assange, the home secretary has today June 17 approved his extradition to the US.

The approval by Priti Patel follows the failed bid in UK courts earlier in the year which sought to have the extraction request by the US declined on health and safety grounds. 

Assange who is wanted in the US over the leaking of sensitive documents in 2010 and 2011, has repeatedly fought efforts to have him extradited. Initially, he holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy but after a number of years and the fraying of relationships the UK police were invited in and he was arrested on April 11, 2019.

He was found guilty of breaching the Bail Act and sentenced to 50 weeks in prison where he has remained ever since.

He was further charged in 2019 by the US for violating the espionage act of 1917, speaking criticism from local newspapers who described it as an attack on the first amendment of the US constitution which guarantees the freedom of the press.

In 2021 a UK judge ruled that Assange could not be extradited given concerns over his’s mental health and risk of suicide.  That ruling was overturned on December 10 last year by the High Court in London which ruled that Assange could be extradited to the US to face the charges, and in March of this year, the UK Supreme Court refused Assange’s permission to appeal.

Assange has 14 days to challenge the home secretary’s approval of his extradition, however the chances of the decision being overruled given the earlier ruling by the UK’s High Court.

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