- A UK court issued an order for
Julian Assange 's extradition to the US. - The Wikileaks founder faces hacking and espionage charges in the US, among others.
A UK court on Wednesday formally approved Julian Assange's extradition to the US, the Associated Press and CNN reported.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring of the Westminster Magistrates' Court issued the order in a seven-minute hearing on Wednesday, Sky News reported. Assange watched the court proceedings from London's Belmarsh Prison, where he is currently held, the AP reported.
Assange faces 18 charges in the US, where he is accused of conspiring to hack government computers and breaching the Espionage Act when WikiLeaks published a trove of confidential military and diplomatic documents in 2010. He faces up to 175 years in prison if he is convicted.
The decision on whether to extradite Assange now lies with UK Home Secretary Priti Patel. But Assange can still appeal Wednesday's decision, CNN and the AP reported.
The High Court in London ruled in January that Assange could appeal an earlier court ruling that he could be extradited to the US, but the UK Supreme Court refused to hear his case in March.
Assange previously argued that he was at risk of suicide and self-harm in the US. But a summary of that earlier ruling said the US had assured the UK that Assange would "receive appropriate clinical psychological treatment" in the US. The US also said it would let Assange serve his sentence in Australia, his home country, if he asks to do so.
Human-rights groups say Assange should not be criminalized for sharing information in the public interest, and that he would not be safe in the US.
Assange was living for years in Ecuador's embassy in London as an asylum seeker. He taken to prison in the UK when Ecuador withdrew its protection of him in April 2019, and the police dragged him out of the embassy. The US then requested to extradite him.