Assange resists extradition | The process started …

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange yesterday reaffirmed his opposition to extradition to the United States. The 46-year-old Australian appeared by videoconference before the Westminster Magistrates Court, where the process of his surrender to Washington began, after being sentenced to 50 weeks in prison by another British court. "I do not want to go for extradition to the United States for doing a journalism that has won many awards and protected many people," said the activist and journalist in his statement. After his videoconference yesterday, Judge Michael Snow ruled that Assange should appear in court again on the 30th. At the same time, dozens of supporters of the Australian activist rallied in court with placards marked "Free Assange". and "No to extradition."

"The battle really begins today," said Kristinn Hrafnsson, current director of WikiLeaks, who called the sentence a "scandal" and said that the computer scientist was very concerned about the possibility of a "scandal". imprisoned for a year after the 2,488 days he spent at the Ecuadorian Embbady in London. "The extradition is based on a minor offense that can be punished by five years in prison," he warned in statements to the US television channel CNN. "Basically, we consider that a strategy is to be able to file more charges against him later.All seems to indicate that he could be accused of violating the 1970 law on espionage, which even provides for the death penalty, "he said.

Assange is being held at Belmarsh Prison, a high-security center in south-west London. He remained there since April 11, when he was arrested by the British police in the Ecuadorian Legation after the country withdrew the diplomatic asylum granted nearly seven years ago. Assange had fled to London in June 2012 to escape extradition to Sweden for badual badault. But when years later were filed, he continued to claim that he would be handed over to the American justice system.

Its online platform became famous in 2010 when it released hundreds of thousands of secret diplomatic and military documents that place the United States under strong hold at the national and international levels. Washington, for its part, claims to want to judge it solely for hacking. The United States contends that the journalist conspired with intelligence badyst Chelsea Manning to intercept a Pentagon computer. In the same vein, the prosecution alleges that Assange helped Manning decode a secret code so that he could filter clbadified cables via WikiLeaks. Ben Brandon, a US justice representative, confirmed yesterday that this charge was punishable by up to five years in jail. But Assange's defenders fear that more serious crimes will be added later, such as the disclosure of secrets or treason, and run the risk of being sentenced to life imprisonment or even to punishment of death.

At the announcement three weeks ago of the expulsion of the Australian Embbady, ​​the President of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, claimed to have received the guarantee of the United Kingdom so that Assange would not be delivered to a country where he could be tortured or sentenced to death. On the same day, British computer lawyer Jennifer Robinson announced that she would fight to the end to prevent her from traveling to the United States, saying that the arrest of Assange created a dangerous precedent for the press organs and the world's journalists. .

Meanwhile, British politicians are divided on Assange. Labor opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn opposes his extradition, saying the Australian "exposed evidence of US atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan." For his part, Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt said Assange was "not a hero". Prime Minister Theresa May said in agreement with Hunt that "no one is above the law".