Assange extradition fight
WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange is wanted in the US on a charge that carries less jail time than the 2487 days he spent holed up in Ecuador’s embassy in London.
But the 47-year-old Australian will fight extradition, fearing he could face more serious charges, including espionage, which could put him behind bars for decades.
Swedish prosecutors have also started a preliminary investigation into whether two dropped sex assault cases can be reopened.
Assange is in custody in London after being dragged handcuffed and ranting from the embassy almost seven years after he sought asylum to avoid extradition to Sweden and the US.
Five hours later, he was convicted of breaching bail in 2012. He faces up to 12 months’ jail, a term he must serve before any extradition.
“Mr Assange’s behaviour is that of a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interests,” Westminster Magistrates’ Court judge Michael Snow said in convicting Assange.
Assange’s legal team, which includes Australian human rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson and fellow Australian Jennifer Robinson, has vowed to fight any extradition bid, setting the stage for legal battles likely to run for years.
Assange, sporting grey slicked-back hair and a bushy beard, waved to supporters as he was taken to the cells.
He is due back in court on May 2.
Ecuador’s president, Lenin Moreno, called Assange a “spoiled brat” after evicting him from the embassy for “repeated violations to international conventions and dailylife protocols”.
Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo said Assange had begun to act aggressively, including smearing faeces on walls, while Mr Moreno called him an ungrateful and “miserable hacker”.
“When you’re given shelter, cared for and provided food, you don’t denounce the owner of the house,” Mr Moreno said.
“We are tolerant, calm people, but we’re not stupid.”
In Sweden, Massi Fritz, a lawyer for a woman who accused Assange of rape in Stockholm in 2010, said her team would “do everything” to have the case reopened.
Sweden’s deputy chief prosecutor, Eva-Marie Persson said: “We will now look into the matter and determine how to proceed.’’
In the US, Assange is wanted only on a charge of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, which carries a maximum of five years’ jail.
His co-accused, former US army analyst Chelsea Manning, was sentenced to 35 years’ jail in 2013, but served just under seven years as former president Barack Obama commuted her sentence.
Manning is back behind bars for refusing to testify against Assange. He is accused of conspiring with Manning to crack the passwords of secure servers and release information that “could be used to the injury of the United States and the advantage of a foreign nation”.
US President Donald Trump said he didn’t “have an opinion’’ on Assange’s arrest.
By contrast, when Assange published emails damaging to Hillary Clinton’s election campaign in 2016, Mr Trump said: “I love WikiLeaks.’’
But Ms Clinton declared Assange must “answer for what he has done”.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the case was a “matter for the United States” and had nothing to do with Australia.