US has 2 months to submit extradition request to UK
WASHINGTON:US prosecutors have just under two months to present British authorities with a final and detailed criminal case to justify the possible extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a US government official said on Friday.
The official, who asked for anonymity when discussing the case, said US authorities had already sent Britain a provisional arrest warrant regarding Assange’s extradition to the US.
But within 60 days from Thursday, when British police bundled Assange out of the Ecuadorean embassy in London where he had taken refuge seven years ago, US authorities must submit a formal request outlining all the legal charges Assange would face if he is transferred into US custody.
According to a criminal indictment against Assange which prosecutors in Virginia secretly obtained more than a year ago but only unsealed after Assange’s arrest, Assange is charged with conspiring with ex-army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to gain unauthorised access to a government computer.
The US indictment filed in March 2018 said Assange, in March 2010, engaged in a conspiracy to help Manning crack a password stored on US defence department computers connected to the Secret Internet Protocol Network (SIPRNet).
Meanwhile, an Ecuadorean judge ordered Swedish citizen Ola Bini, who according to the country’s government was linked to WikiLeaks, jailed pending trial for alleged involvement in hacking government computer systems, the prosecutor’s office said on Saturday.
‘ASSANGE SHOULD FACE JUSTICE IN SWEDEN’
LONDON:More than 70 British legislators urged the UK government to make sure Assange faces Swedish justice if prosecutors there reopen a rape case.
The UK lawmakers sent a signed letter late on Friday to home secretary Sajid Javid.
VIDAL BOOK BECOMES OVERNIGHT SENSATION
NEW YORK: The arrest of Assange has made a book of interviews with Gore Vidal an unexpected best-seller. Assange was carrying a copy of Gore Vidal: History of the National Security State & Vidal on America when he was arrested.
By Friday afternoon, the 2014 publication shot up to No. 35 on Amazon.com.