What says the law on extradition for which Julian Assange was arrested in the UK and could be sent to the United States.

Like this the asylum Assange enjoyed since 2012 at the Embbady of Ecuador in London has come to an endand this was recently lifted by Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno. With the agreement of Quito, Scotland Yard agents They were able to enter the building of the diplomatic delegation and arrest the activist.

There is two extradition requests opened against Assange, as highlighted by the agency AP. The first was settled by Sweden in the framework of a charge of alleged badual abuse. The charges were later lifted, but the Swedish courts still sue him for violating the arrest.

While the United States wants to extradite Assange so that he investigates him because of the mbadive leak of secret documents made by WikiLeaks, and for whom former US officers, Edward Snowden (based in Russia and under political asylum) and Chelsea Manning (born Bradley Manning and imprisoned in the United States) are also charged, who provided sensitive information, including evidence alleged human rights violations in Iraq, filtered through the site of the activist.

Espionage charges can be very harsh in the United States, including life imprisonment and the death penalty, although the British law maintains in Article 94 that there will be no extradition to the countries that enforce the death penalty unless they state in writing that they will not apply it in this particular case, as reported The Guardian.

"He was arrested at the request of US authorities at 10:53 am after arriving at the central police station in London. This is an extradition order under section 73 of the Extradition ActScotland Yard said in a statement.

This law was pbaded in November 2003 by the British Parliament and entered into force on 1 January 2004. The aim was to integrate European extradition laws and the UK-US bilateral agreement with UK regulations.

According to article 73, the provisional extradition be issued by a justice of the peace to an individual who is in the United Kingdom or on the way to the United Kingdom, and that he is accused of committing a crime in the "Category 2" territories or is a fugitive.

In this "category 2" are United States, besides Canada, Russia, Brazil or Australia, among others. While "category 1" refers to the member countries of the European Union, before which different provisions apply.

Article 73 on "Category 2" requires that it be "written evidence" of the offense for which extradition will be requested.

What can we expect now in terms of time and process for Assange? The truth is that the process could last several months, at least.

According to the law on extradition, Once the arrest has taken place, the accused must be properly identified and informed of the charges against him during a preliminary hearing.

The The extradition hearing must begin no later than 21 days after the arrest. and the judge must fix the precise date.

There is no stipulated period for the completion of this step, and the judge must be "satisfied" that all the points necessary for extradition have been fulfilled. Then you have to send the case and its recommendation to the United Kingdom Secretary of State of the Interior, who has the final decision with respect to the "Category 2" cases, which should not be taken more than four weeks.

To the extent that the Secretary of State, currently held by the conservative Sajid Javid, it is not issued within a maximum of eight weeks, the extradition will fall and the suspect will be released.

The decision to refer the case to the Secretary of State can be appealed to a high court. in a period not exceeding 14 daysalthough the appeal is only applicable if the extradition is approved by the secretariat. To the same extent, the decision of the High Court can also be appealed to the Supreme Court., again in a period not exceeding 14 days

Finally, if all the calls fail and the Secretary of State maintains his decision, Extradition must be done within a maximum of 28 days.

Since his approval, 33 British residents were extradited to the United Statess. Among them are the British Babar Ahmad and the Egyptian Abu Hamza al-Masri, wanted for terrorism and extradited in 2012.

However, the same year, the extradition of the hacker George McKinnon, responsible for one of the largest thefts of military secrets in history, since he was afraid that he was doing it the man could have tried to commit suicide and his human rights would have been violated. This order was signed by the Secretary of State for the Interior, at the time Prime Minister, Theresa May, and McKinnon remains locked up in the UK.

Here is the full text, in English, of the 2003 Extradition Act: