Priti Patel signs an order to extradite Julian Assange to the US to face espionage charges

  • Westminster Magistrates’ Court issued formal order for Assange’s US extradition
  • Home Secretary has now rubber stamped WikiLeaks founder’s extradition 
  • WikiLeaks say they will appeal and say Priti Patel has done the wrong thing
  • Assange’s legal team also say there are other parts of appeal still to be heard 

Julian Assange took a step closer to being extradited to the United States today after Priti Patel signed an order agreeing to send him to Virginia to face espionage charges and potentially a 175-year jail sentence.

The Home Secretary has rubber stamped the order issued by Westminster Magistrates’ Court to fly the WikiLeaks founder to America for trial.

Assange, who is currently held in Belmarsh Prison in south-east London, has 14 days to appeal.

WikiLeaks have already said they will back to court to keep him in Britain, claiming today is a ‘dark day for press freedom and British democracy’ and accusing Ms Patel of choosing not to ‘do the right thing’.

Assange’s wife, Stella Moris, who married the imprisoned WikiLeaks founder in April, said: ‘Anyone in this country who cares about freedom of expression should be deeply ashamed that the Home Secretary has approved the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States, the country that plotted his assassination’

Assange is wanted in America over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information following WikiLeaks’ publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. He has always denied wrongdoing.

Assange has been held in Belmarsh prison for three years since being dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London.