Australia not to challenge Assange extradition

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Australia will not challenge Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's extradition to the United States and has confidence in the British judicial system, a senior government minister confirmed Thursday.

A British court issued a formal order Wednesday for the Australian national to be extradited to the United States, where he would face trial for the publication of secret files exposing US crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

If convicted, Assange could face up to 175 years in prison.

Australia was not arguing against extradition

"We have confidence in the independence and integrity of the British justice system," Australian Senator Simon Birmingham told the national broadcaster ABC Thursday.

Australia's government was not arguing against the extradition, he said.

"This is a process that will be able to continue to work through that system," noted Birmingham, who is Australia's Finance Minister.

Assange's right of appeal remains

Following the British court's order, Assange's lawyers have until May 18 to make submissions to Britain's Interior Minister Priti Patel, with whom the final decision about his extradition rests.

Birmingham noted that Assange's right of appeal to the High Court remained and pointed out that Australia would continue to provide consular assistance to its jailed citizen.

"Grave threat to press freedom"

A coalition of 25 human rights groups -- including the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch, and Reporters Without Borders -- has challenged Assange's extradition, considering that it poses a "grave threat to press freedom both in the United States and abroad."

The Australian has been fighting to avoid extradition for more than a decade, dramatically taking refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012 to avoid extradition.

Assange has been held in London's high-security Belmarsh prison since 2019.

See more: Julian Assange: a Timeline

Assange is wanted for trial for publicizing over 500,000 secret military files pertaining to Washington's wars against Iraq and Afghanistan.

Last year in January, Assange's sentencing or punishment was postponed when reports arose that he was feeling suicidal as he was kept in maximum-security solitary confinement at a Special Administrative Measures (SAMs). 

In a hearing in October that lasted two days, the US claimed that Assange will not be held in isolation and will improve the conditions of his confinement despite reports conveying otherwise.

In January, Assange was granted permission to appeal his extradition to the United States.