WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange allowed to seek appeal against extradition to the US
The decision to extradite Assange has rested on his mental health. In Assange is wanted in the US on 18 criminal charges after WikiLeaks published thousands of classified files and diplomatic cables in 2010. If convicted, he faces up to 175 years in prison.Assange has been held in London’s Belmarsh prison since 2019, after he was arrested in connection with bail-skipping charges and a separate extradition warrant from the US Justice Department.He had previously spent nearly seven years holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, protected by asylum status, avoiding extradition to Sweden.Swedish prosecutors dropped their investigation of sexual molestation and coercion against him in 2015 and their investigation into rape allegations in 2019. Assange always denied wrongdoing in that case.
