World
London court to decide whether WikiLeaks founder Assange is extradited to the US
LONDON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faces a hearing Monday in the High Court in London that could end with him being sent to the U.S. to face espionage charges, or provide him another chance to appeal his extradition.
The outcome will depend on how much weight judges give to assurances U.S. officials have provided that Assange’s rights won’t be trampled if he goes on trial.
In March, two judges rejected the bulk of Assange’s arguments but said he could take his case to the Court of Appeal unless the U.S. guaranteed he would not face the death penalty if extradited and would have the same free speech protections as a U.S. citizen.
The court said that if Assange, who is an Australian citizen, couldn’t rely on the First Amendment then it was arguable his extradition would be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, which also provides free speech and press protections.
The U.S. has provided those reassurances, though Assange’s legal team and supporters argue they are not good enough to rely on to send him to the U.S. federal court system.
The U.S., for example, said Assange could seek to rely on the rights and protections of the First Amendment but that a decision on that would ultimately be up to a judge. In the past, the U.S. said it would argue at trial that he was not entitled to the constitutional protection because he’s not a U.S. citizen.
“The U.S. has limited itself to blatant weasel words claiming that Julian can ‘seek to raise’ the First Amendment if extradited,” his wife, Stella Assange, said. “The diplomatic note does nothing to relieve our family’s extreme distress about his future — his grim expectation of spending the rest of his life in isolation in U.S. prison for publishing award-winning journalism.”
Assange, 52, has been indicted on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over his website’s publication of a trove of classified U.S. documents almost 15 years ago. American prosecutors allege that Assange encouraged and helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks published.
His lawyers say he could face up to 175 years in prison if convicted, though American authorities have said any sentence would likely be much shorter.
Assange’s family and supporters say his physical and mental health have suffered during more than a decade of legal battles, including taking refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London from 2012 until 2019. He has spent the last five years in a British high-security prison.
Assange’s lawyers argued in February that he was a journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sending him to the U.S., they said, would expose him to a politically motivated prosecution and risk a “flagrant denial of justice.”
The U.S. government said his actions went way beyond those of a journalist gathering information and put lives at risk in his bid to solicit, steal and indiscriminately publish classified government documents.
If Assange prevails Monday, it would set the stage for an appeal process likely to extend what has already been a long legal saga.
If the court accepts the word of the U.S., it would mark the end of Assange’s legal challenges in the U.K., though it’s unclear what would immediately follow.
His legal team is prepared to ask the European Court of Human Rights to intervene. But his supporters fear Assange could possibly be transferred before the court in Strasbourg, France, could halt his removal.
The court could also postpone issuing a decision.
If he loses in court, he still may have another shot at freedom.
President Joe Biden said last month that he was considering a request from Australia to drop the case and let Assange return to his home country.
Officials provided no other details but Stella Assange said it was “a good sign” and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the comment was encouraging.
World
Iran's Khamenei warns of 'strong blow' as Trump threatens to drop bombs, Putin silent on US ire
Furious comments issued by President Donald Trump over the weekend prompted a swift and aggressive response from Iran, while Russian President Vladimir Putin remains tight-lipped in the face of the U.S. leader’s ire.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, issued a warning on Monday and said it would respond “decisively and immediately” to any threat issued by the U.S. after Trump said there “will be bombing” and likely more tariffs if Tehran does not agree to a nuclear deal with Washington.
“The enmity from the U.S. and Israel has always been there. They threaten to attack us, which we don’t think is very probable, but if they commit any mischief, they will surely receive a strong reciprocal blow,” Khamenei said according to a Reuters report.
TRUMP THREATENS TO BOMB IRAN UNLESS THEY END NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM AND BEGIN TALKS ON NEW DEAL
President Donald Trump speaks to the press aboard Air Force One before arriving at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Mar. 28, 2025. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
“And if they are thinking of causing sedition inside the country as in past years, the Iranian people themselves will deal with them,” he added.
Despite Iran’s refusal and warning directed at both the U.S. and Israel, Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran expert and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Khamenei’s comments are an attempt to “buy time” while balancing growing external and internal pressures on his regime.
“At once, Khamenei sought to both downplay the chances of President Trump or Israel taking military action while also looking to deter such an eventuality due to the regime’s own policies,” he told Fox News Digital. “This is a tightrope Khamenei will increasingly be forced to walk as he plays for time and engages in nuclear escalation.
“U.S. policy should be to keep Khamenei off balance,” he added.
While Iran takes an offensive stance against Trump and his ambitions to finally bring Tehran to heel on its nuclear expansion, Russia is taking a different approach as it refuses to bow to Trump’s plans to see an end to the war in Ukraine.
TRUMP SAYS HE IS ‘PISSED OFF’ WITH PUTIN OVER LACK OF PEACE PROGRESS: REPORT
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, meets with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran. (Dmitry AZAROV / SPUTNIK / AFP)
Over the weekend, Trump said he was “pissed off” over comments made by Putin on Friday when he suggested the work Washington was doing to negotiate a ceasefire with Russia and Ukraine was moot because he believes the government in Kyiv to be illegitimate and therefore cannot sign any deals.
“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault … I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,” Trump said, noting that tariffs could be as high as 50%.
The president later said his ire could “dissipate quickly” if Putin “does the right thing,” and once again noted he has “a very good relationship with [Putin].”
However, the Kremlin chief, who reportedly has another call scheduled with Trump this week, has not responded to Trump’s heated comments.
The chief spokesman for Putin, Dmitry Peskov, said on Monday that Russia will continue to work on “restoring” relations with Washington that he said were “damaged by the Biden administration” following Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, and noted that Putin remains in “open contact” with Trump.
However, Putin’s lack of public response and the toned-down statements from the Kremlin are all part of Putin’s broader strategy, former DIA intelligence officer and Russia expert, Rebekah Koffler, told Fox News Digital.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on his return to Washington, D.C., on Mar. 30, 2025, when he said he was “pissed off” at Russian President Vladimir Putin. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)
“Putin, like Trump, thrives on confrontation,” Koffler said. “Except his approach is different. The Kremlin deliberately is projecting that Putin is cool, calm, and collected now, which he is.
“The fact that President Trump reportedly got mad and used those words means to Putin that he finally got to him, the way he got to Biden, Obama, and others who called him a killer and other derogatory words,” she continued.
“Putin now feels that not only Russia has an upper hand on the battlefield over Ukraine and in terms of total combat potential over NATO, but he also was able to unbalance Trump,” Koffler explained. “That is the whole point – it’s a judo move.”
Messages of support for the National Rally’s founder, along with attacks on the French judicial system, came from her political allies.
Leaders from Marine Le Pen’s Patriots party across EU countries rallied to her support after the French court ruling on Monday found her guilty of misappropriation of public funds and barred her from running for the next presidential elections in France.
No joint statement has been issued by Patriots.eu, the European political party to which Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) is affiliated. However, leaders from the Patriots’ parties have expressed solidarity with the RN’s founder.
“Je suis Marine,” (I am Marine), wrote Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on X.
“I back Marine,” was the message in French of Italy’s League leader Matteo Salvini, posted to a picture with the French politician.
The League’s delegation in the European Parliament considered the ruling “political and disproportionate” and “the greatest judicial scandal of the Fifth (French) Republic”. “Today it is not Marine Le Pen or the National Rally being hit, but democracy,” read a note from the Italian party.
“I am shocked by the incredible tough verdict against Marine Le Pen,” wrote the Dutch nationalist leader Geert Wilders, founder and president of PVV, adding that he is confident she “will win the appeal and become the president of France.”
Statements of solidarity and accusations towards the French judiciary also arrived from Belgium and Greece.
“When nationalist politicians gain popularity, the system seeks other, non-democratic ways to silence them,” Tom Van Grieken, president of Flemish sovereigntist party Vlaams Belang, wrote on X.
“Today we are all with Marine Le Pen. The instrumentalisation of Justice for political expediency undermines democracy itself,” read a post from Afroditi Latinopoulou, a Greek member of the European Parliament and founder of ultranationalist party The Voice of Reason.
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Iran's Khamenei warns of 'strong blow' as Trump threatens to drop bombs, Putin silent on US ire
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