Assange was arrested in 2019 after spending seven years living in the Ecuador Embassy in London. He spent the last five years in Belmarsh High Security Prison.
A court in the United Kingdom on Tuesday ordered a delay in the possible extradition of Julian Assange, allowing the WikiLeaks founder to continue his appeal fighting a transfer to the United States to face charges in connection with one of the largest thefts of classified government information in American history
Assange is accused of conspiring with Chelsea Manning, who was then an intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army, in a leak of hundreds of thousands of classified documents, including about 250,000 U.S. Department of State cables. WikiLeaks began publishing those documents in 2010.
The U.S. Department of Justice unsealed in 2019 an 18-count indictment accusing Assange of violating the Espionage Act by allegedly obtaining, receiving and disclosing classified information.
Those charges were unsealed following Assange’s arrest after he spent seven years living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He’s been incarcerated for the last five years in Belmarsh High Security Prison, a maximum-security facility in South London.
The British government approved the extradition after a hearing in London in June 2022.
