British Court Rejects U.S. Request To Extradite WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange

Enlarge this image

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faces 18 counts related to illegally obtaining, receiving and disclosing classified information in 2010. He is accused of conspiring to hack U.S. government computer networks, and obtain and publish classified documents related to national security.

John Thys/AFP via Getty Images

hide caption

toggle caption

John Thys/AFP via Getty Images

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faces 18 counts related to illegally obtaining, receiving and disclosing classified information in 2010. He is accused of conspiring to hack U.S. government computer networks, and obtain and publish classified documents related to national security.

John Thys/AFP via Getty Images

A British court has denied a request from U.S. officials to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on harges of illegally obtaining and sharing classified material related to national security.

Assange was facing 18 counts tied to charges dating from 2010. He is accused by the U.S. government of conspiring with Chelsea Manning, a former intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army, in a coordinated effort to compromise U.S. government computer networks, and to obtain and publish classified documents related to national security.

The judge’s order Monday allows Assange to continue to evade U.S. law enforcement, an effort that’s included spending seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy. He was expelled from the embassy in April 2019 and was sent to London’s Belmarsh prison.

If convicted of all charges in the U.S., Assange would face a maximum of 175 years in prison.