Julian Assange will appeal against his extradition to the United States after Priti Patel today approved sending him to the US to face trial. The Wikileaks founder, 50, is wanted on 18 counts relating to the publication of leaked military documents relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Assange has been held in the high-security HMP Belmarsh in south east London since 2019 after he was arrested and removed from the Ecuadorian embassy, where he had taken refuge since 2012. He was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison in May 2019 for breaching his bail conditions while subject to a Swedish arrest warrant, subsequently dropped.  

District judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled last year that Assange should not be sent to the US as his mental health was ‘such that it would be oppressive to extradite him’.

But the High Court found that assurances given to the UK government about the conditions in which Assange would be held were ‘sufficient to meet the concerns which led to the district judge’s decision’.

The Home Office today said Patel has signed an order for Assange’s extradition, adding: ‘In this case, the UK courts have not found that it would be oppressive, unjust or an abuse of process to extradite Mr Assange. Nor have they found that extradition would be incompatible with his human rights, including his right to a fair trial and to freedom of expression, and that whilst in the US he will be treated appropriately, including in relation to his health.’

Wikileaks said it is ‘a dark day for press freedom and for British democracy’ and that Assange will appeal to the High Court.

‘Anyone in this country who cares about freedom of expression should be deeply ashamed that the home secretary has approved the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States, the country that plotted his assassination,’ it said in a statement. ‘Julian did nothing wrong. He has committed no crime and is not a criminal. He is a journalist and a publisher and he is being punished for doing his job.

‘It was in Priti Patel’s power to do the right thing. Instead, she will forever be remembered as an accomplice of the United States in its agenda to turn investigative journalism into a criminal enterprise.’