Is it really fair, right or just to extradite Assange?

TOMORROW, the American demand for the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange finally comes to the point of decision. The US authorities will seek the right to take Mr Assange to stand trial.

If extradited, Mr Assange loses many of the protections an English defendant would have, such as legal aid and our ban on plea-bargaining, often used to force guilty pleas. He faces a colossally long sentence, quite possibly spent in a ‘supermax’ prison.

Some will be tempted to say ‘serves him right’. Mr Assange’s revelations of leaked material caused grave embarrassment to Washington and are alleged to have done material damage too. Mr Assange has been a spectacular nuisance during his time in this country, lawlessly jumping bail and wasting police time by taking refuge in the embassy of Ecuador. The Mail on Sunday disapproves of much of what he has done, but we must also ask if his current treatment is fair, right or just.

Two considerable issues are raised here. The first is the unfairness of our extradition treaty with the US, a relic of the Blair era.

It is plainly unequal, giving Washington astonishing powers to seize

UK citizens. Theresa May, when

Home Secretary, rightly defied it in the 2012 case of another hacker, Gary McKinnon.

And the charges against Mr Assange, using the American Espionage Act, might be used against legitimate journalists in this country. Both the courts and the current Home Secretary Priti Patel must be very wary about perpetuating and upholding an unequal law such as this.