The U.K. High Court gave Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, a reprieve by allowing him to contest his extradition to the United States on May 20.
During a brief court hearing, two judges decided that the US administration had not complied with the standards. The US administration stated in April that Mr. Assange “will have the ability to raise and seek to rely upon” the First Amendment, but that the courts would decide whether or not that applied to a non-US citizen.
New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) CEO Jodie Ginsberg expressed satisfaction over the ruling, saying, “We are heartened that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be allowed to appeal his extradition to the United States.”
Ginsberg added that the prosecution of Assange in the United States would be extremely detrimental to press freedom. The United States Department of Justice should drop the detrimental charges against Assange.
Assange risks a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison under the Espionage Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, if he is extradited to the United States and found guilty. However, U.S. prosecutors have stated that the actual sentence would probably be far shorter.
Attorney General Merrick Garland received a letter from CPJ and other organizations last week pleading with the Justice Department to drop Assange’s accusations.
The 52-year-old Australian is accused of breaking the U.S. Espionage Act and leaking secret military and diplomatic communications in 2010. He faces numerous charges for these offenses. The United States has maintained that the unredacted names in the leaked data put lives in danger.
AssangeDAO holds the Clock NFT with their top bid of 16,593 ETH ($53 million) that are already transferred to Wu Holland Foundation, which processes the donations for Julian Assange. The NFT, which counts the days Assange has been imprisoned, will cease its count as soon as Assange is released, and the Censored NFT collection will also unlock.
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