The UK ruling on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's extradition to the United States will not be made until after the US Election Day on November 2, after the judge presiding over the case granted the whistleblower's legal team another four weeks to submit closing arguments
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th September, 2020) The UK ruling on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's extradition to the United States will not be made until after the US Election Day on November 2, after the judge presiding over the case granted the whistleblower's legal team another four weeks to submit closing arguments.
Judge Vanessa Baraitser also granted the prosecution two weeks to then reply with their arguments and a final 72 hours for limited defense reply.
The hearing to decide whether Assange should be sent to the United States resumed on September 7 at the London Central Criminal Court, after six months of delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and is expect to conclude on October 2.
Asked by Baraitser about the impact the US presidential election would have on the case presented by the defense, Assange's lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said the situation for his client could be worse if president Donald Trump is re-elected.
"Much of what we say about Mr Trump personally goes to why this was initiated, that will all remain. Much of what we say about the US prison systems will remain because it's systemic. But we do feel the situation would be worse if Trump were to win," he added.
The US Department of Justice is seeking the whistleblower's extradition on 17 espionage charges and one count of computer misuse, which carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison, for the publication of classified information on the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and thousands of US diplomatic cables between 2010 and 2011.
Assange, who has been locked up at the maximum-security prison of Belmarsh since his arrest at the Ecuadorean embassy in London in April, 2019, is attending the trial from behind a glass panel, away from his defense team.
