Published on: 04/20/2022 – 14:20 British justice formally authorized on Wednesday the extradition of the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, to the United States, after years of legal tussle. It is now up to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel to approve it, although defense lawyers can still appeal to the High Court. The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, is one step closer to extradition to the United States – which wants to try him for espionage – after a formal decision by British justice on Wednesday April 20. Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London officially ruled issued an extradition order and it is now up to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel to approve it. “Put simply, I am required to send your case to the Minister of State for decision”, said magistrate Paul Goldspring during a short seven-minute hearing. Aged 50, the founder of WikiLeaks was not physically present in court but followed the administrative procedure by video link. the High Court. Unless appealed, Julian Assange will be extradited within 28 days of the minister’s decision to order the extradition. “Journalists will have to look over their shoulder” Outside the court, a few dozen supporters of Julian Assange gathered on Wednesday with signs proclaiming “Do not extradite Assange, journalism is not a crime” or “May press freedom rest in peace”. of the Labor Party Jeremy Corbyn was also present to defend the Australian. “He has done absolutely nothing more than tell the truth to the world,” he told protesters. “If #JulianAssange is extradited to the United States, journalists everywhere will have to look over their shoulder if they publish information harmful to American interests”, also reacted on Twitter the human rights organization Amnesty International. Julian Assange has been detained for three years in the high security prison of Belmarsh, near London, where he married his fiancée, Stella Moris, last month. She had two children with him, two little boys conceived when he lived at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The founder of WikiLeaks spent seven years in this embassy, where he had taken refuge in 2012 while he was on bail. He then feared extradition to the United States or to Sweden, where he was doing the rape charges since dropped. Julian Assange was finally arrested by British police in April 2019 and jailed. His wife, a South African lawyer in her thirties, begged Priti last month Patel to prevent her extradition, urging her to put an end to this “political affair”. She attended the court hearing on Wednesday. Caught in a long legal saga, the Australian is wanted by the American courts, who want to try him for the dissemination, from 2010, of more than 700,000 classified documents on the US military and diplomatic activities, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan. Prosecuted in particular under anti-espionage legislation, Julian Assange faces 175 years in prison, in a case denounced by human rights organizations as a serious attack on the freedom of the press. On March 14, he had seen one of his last hopes of avoiding his extradition disappear, with the refusal of the British Supreme Court to examine his appeal. With AFP