LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd January, 2021) Julian Assange�s fiancee, Stella Moris, warned on Sunday that it would be "politically and legally disastrous" for the UK if the judge presiding over the extradition case rules on Monday that the WikiLeaks founder can be extradited to the US.
"If Julian loses, I believe that it would not only be an unthinkable travesty but that the ruling would also be politically and legally disastrous for the UK," Moris said in an article published by the Daily Mail tabloid.
Assange�s extradition trial ended at London�s Old Bailey court on October 1 after his defense team spent four weeks trying to prove that the whistleblower was being indicted for political reasons. District judge Vanessa Baraitser will hand over her verdict on his extradition on Monday, but depending on the outcome, it is possible that the case will go before several UK courts before it is concluded.
The US Department of Justice is seeking the extradition of Assange on 17 espionage charges and on 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.
"If Westminster Magistrates' Court accepts the US arguments tomorrow, every other country can use them, too. It would place an impossible burden on you, me, everyone, not to violate foreign censorship laws," Moris, who has two children with Assange, added.
She also said that "no matter what happens, we will continue to fight for what we know is right," confirming that the losing side will file for an appeal and that the extradition case will continue for months to come.
Assange has been held in a UK maximum security prison since he was arrested at the Ecuadorean embassy in London in April, 2019, and sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for jumping a bail back in 2012. Although he served the whole sentence long time ago, Judge Baraitser has refused to release him until the extradition case is over.
