LONDON, July 1. /TASS/. The defense team of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has appealed the decision to extradite him to the United States in the High Court in London, BBC reported on Friday citing the court.
The deadline for submitting the appeal was July 1. Gareth Peirce, a senior partner at Birnberg Peirce & Partners law firm representing Assange, was quoted as saying by the Wall Street Journal that the court is now to decide whether the appeal should be heard.
UK Home Office spokesperson said on June 17 that the head of the department, Priti Patel, had decided to extradite Assange to the United States following a review by both the Westminster Magistrates' Court and the London’s High Court. According to the UK Home Office, the 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, the department said.
WikiLeaks, in turn, said that it would appeal Patel's decision to extradite Assange to the United States to the High Court in London. The organization stressed that the prosecution of the Australian "has always been a political matter."
The 50-year-old Australian is facing 175 years in prison in the United States for his role in the biggest leak of classified information in US history. Last month, London's Westminster Magistrates' Court issued an order for his extradition to the US. For the past three years, Assange has been kept in Britain's maximum-security Belmarsh Prison.