U.K. court: Assange may be extradited to U.S.

A two-judge panel of the High Court in London overturned a lower court decision that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s mental health would suffer from imprisonment in the United States. U.S. prosecutors sent four assurances in February promising to allow access to clinical and psychological treatment and to not detain him in the highest-security prison. The U.S. also said Assange would not be held under “special administrative measures” which includes solitary confinement and bans visits and phone use.

What are the charges? Assange published thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents in 2010 and 2011 through WikiLeaks. Prosecutors said he helped an Army intelligence analyst steal the information. The total espionage and computer misuse charges carry a combined sentence of 175 years, but U.S. lawyers told the British court the longest sentence imposed was just over five years. British Home Secretary Priti Patel will make the final decision on the extradition request. Assange’s lawyers argue that he is protected as a journalist under the First Amendment and will appeal the ruling.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Emily Belz’s report on the diplomatic fallout from the WikiLeaks publications.