This morning, a judge has issued an order for Julian Assange to be transferred to the United States to face charges of spying. The Wikileaks founder is wanted in the US for leaking hundreds of thousands of documents relating to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to The Independent:
Westminster Magistrates’ Court has now issued an order to extradite the WikiLeaks founder, bringing his transfer to the US ever closer.
It is now down to the Home Secretary Priti Patel to approve the order.
A judge issued the order at a brief hearing on Wednesday but the move doesn’t exhaust all legal options for Mr Assange.
His lawyers now have four weeks to make submissions to Ms Patel and can also seek to appeal to the High Court.
Mr Assange made headlines around the world after his organisation published a series of leaks provided by US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
The leaks included 75,000 documents related to the war in Afghanistan and around 390,000 army field reports relating to the war in Iraq.
Mr Assange, who married his fiancee Stella Moris last month, has been held in Belmarsh prison for three years since he was dragged out of the Ecuadorean embassy in London where he had been taking refuge.
Don’t expect an outcry from UK television and radio presenters and pundits.
In fact, their silence is deafening this morning.
