Watchdog Brands Charges Against WikiLeaks Founder 'Politically-Motivated'

Watchdog Brands Charges Against WikiLeaks Founder 'Politically-Motivated'

A prominent watchdog on Thursday described the charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as politically motivated amid the resumed extradition hearing in the United Kingdom

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th September, 2020) A prominent watchdog on Thursday described the charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as politically motivated amid the resumed extradition hearing in the United Kingdom.

Earlier in the week, the extradition hearing resume at the Central Criminal Court in London.

"You don't need to know the vagaries of extradition law to understand that the charges against Assange are not only classic 'political offences' and thus barred under extradition law, but more crucially, the charges are politically-motivated," Amnesty International's human rights expert Julia Hall said in a statement.

Assange was arrested in London in April and sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for jumping his bail back in 2012, when he took refuge inside the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK capital to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced sexual assault charges and possible extradition to the United States.

The WikiLeaks founder is indicted by the US Department of Justice on 18 charges, mostly regarding violations under the Espionage Act, and is facing extradition from the United Kingdom to the United States. If convicted of these charges, the WikiLeaks founder faces up to 175 years in prison.