Anyone in this country who cares about freedom of expression should be deeply ashamed that the Home Secretary (Priti Patel) has approved the extradition of Julian Assange to the US, the country that plotted his assassination.

The decision was announced today by Patel’s office, which had in its hands the fate of the Australian journalist after the High Court in London accepted last April the appeal of U.S. prosecutors against the decision of a trial judge who refused to extradite him because of health problems.

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.

The platform founded by Assange to expose secret military files and other uncomfortable truths for Washington confirmed that it will appeal Patel’s verdict within the stipulated 14 days.

Today is not the end of the fight. It is only the beginning of a new legal battle, WikiLeaks said, which in addition to appealing again to the High Court said it will fight in the streets to make the Australian journalist’s case known to all.

Assange has been locked up in a British maximum security prison since Ecuador in 2019 withdrew the political asylum granted to him seven years earlier, and allowed police to arrest him at its embassy in London.

If tried and convicted by a U.S. court, the Australian journalist could be sentenced to 175 years in prison from the 17 charges related to the espionage law against him.

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