All hopes on European court if UK clears Assange’s US extradition, says wife

By Mehmet Solmaz

LONDON (AA) – If Julian Assange loses his appeal in the UK against extradition to the US, then the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will be his last and only hope, according to Stella Assange, the WikiLeaks founder’s wife.

Stella told Anadolu that her husband is already suffering many health problems and that “he will die” if he is transferred to the US.

After years of legal battles in the UK, the US government has successfully convinced judicial authorities that the 52-year-old must be tried in an American court.

Assange has been indicted on 17 espionage charges over the publication of half a million classified military documents regarding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and faces up to 175 years in prison for charges filed by the US government.

His lawyers say their arguments will be presented on the first day of the two-day hearing next week and if he wins the legal case, he will be granted a right for a “full appeal.”

However, in case of a loss, Assange’s wife says they “will definitely and immediately file an application” with the ECHR.

“If Julian loses this, he will be not be able to appeal in the United Kingdom. He will have exhausted domestic remedies here and that means that he can apply to the European Court of Human Rights,” Stella said.

“He will ask for an injunction to stop the UK from extraditing him and the UK has to respect that.”

- ‘Our time together is what keeps us optimistic’

She said their children do not know about their father’s possible extradition to the US, and the family’s bond is what has helped them power through their legal battle.

“We have two children together. The little one turned five and (the other is) six-and-a-half. We’re able to see Julian about once or twice a week normally, but actually we haven’t seen him since the 3rd of February, so it's been about two weeks now,” Stella said.

“Our time together is what keeps us optimistic that we will be able to be together as a family, finally. But obviously the legal situation is dire.”

- Last attempt in British courts

Assange’s lawyers contend that their client cannot be extradited to the US, a country they say wants to kill him, referring to a Yahoo News report, which claimed the CIA was plotting to kidnap or assassinate him back in 2017.

Although the US government has not officially commented on the allegations, the then-CIA chief and former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said all 30 former CIA officials who spoke to Yahoo News should be prosecuted.

Kristinn Hrafnsson, the current editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, believes the ECHR will deal with an application like Assange’s in a speedy manner, but fears that the UK may put Assange on an extradition plane immediately after the decision.

Hrafnsson said they are also not sure whether Britain will honor an ECHR ruling, referring to the government’s position on a possible abolishment of ECHR decisions on deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda.

A deportation flight to the East African country was stopped after a last-minute intervention by the ECHR in June 2022.

However, Hrafnsson is cautious about the possibility of a similar intervention in Assange’s case.

“There is a possibility that the ECHR decides to issue this request, to stay the extradition, based on the Rule 39. The same sort of element in the treaty that was used to stop the refugee transportation to Rwanda,” he told Anadolu.

“We have no assurances that this will happen, that the ECHR will actually issue that kind of an order to hold.”

- Danger of immediate extradition

Hrafnsson stressed that, despite its reservations, the UK government still has a legal obligations to comply with ECHR rulings.

However, he said that there are “no assurances that this government … will abide by it, although they are obliged to do so.”

He pointed out that it takes at least a few hours for the ECHR to issue an injunction, but they do not know whether the UK government will have a flight ready to take off immediately.

“We have done everything that we can to prepare for these scenarios and send signals that we will respond immediately,” he said.

“Requests have been sent to the Home Office, because that political decision to fly him out will have to be taken there. They have the power to at least hold. So everything has been done to stop this, but to put it mildly, I’m not too hopeful about a positive outcome.”