At a critical hearing this week in London, lawyers for imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange asked the British High Court of Justice to grant him a new appeal in what is likely his last chance to avoid extradition to the United States, where he faces a 175-year prison sentence for publishing classified documents that exposed U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Assange’s lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, says the judges were receptive to their arguments that Assange could face the death penalty in the U.S. and that an extradition would set a dangerous precedent for press freedom. “If Julian is extradited and goes on trial under the Espionage Act, this is a case which is going to set precedent which criminalizes journalistic activity and will be used against the rest of the media.” A ruling in the case is not expected until next month at the earliest.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.