Assange's wife accuses US of 'weasel words'

Julian Assange’s wife has accused the United States government of “blatant weasel words” as she tries to stop her husband being sent to America to stand trial.

The US wants the WikiLeaks founder to be extradited from the UK to face 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse stemming from his website’s publication of classified documents nearly 15 years ago.

American prosecutors allege Assange, 52, put lives at risk when he helped former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks put online in 2010.

At London’s High Court in February, barristers for the American government argued Assange went a “considerable way beyond” the role of a journalist in gathering information.

They claimed innocent people, many of whom “lived in war zones or under repressive regimes”, could have been harmed.

Following the court hearing, High Court judges last month said Assange would be able to bring a new appeal against extradition unless US lawyers provided certain guarantees.

Those assurances were that in a US trial he could rely on the first amendment right to free speech and he would not face new charges that could result in the death penalty being handed down.

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Reuters news agency says it has seen a document submitted by US authorities which states Assange could rely on first amendment protections and says “a sentence of death will neither be sought nor imposed”.

But Assange’s wife Stella said the guarantees did not satisfy their side’s concerns, calling the diplomatic note “weasel words”.

She said: “The United States has issued a non-assurance in relation to the first amendment, and a standard assurance in relation to the death penalty.

“It makes no undertaking to withdraw the prosecution’s previous assertion that Julian has no first amendment rights because he is not a US citizen.

“Instead, the US has limited itself to blatant weasel words claiming that Julian can ‘seek to raise’ the first amendment if extradited.

“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 US prison for publishing award-winning journalism.”

Mrs Assange previously said her husband has not done anything wrong and his “life is at risk” every day he is in prison.

Judges are now set to consider the US submission, as well as any response from Assange’s legal team at a hearing in May.

Mrs Assange has also demanded the US government “drop this dangerous prosecution”.

Her statement comes after Joe Biden said America was “considering” such a move.

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Speaking at the White House on 11 April, the president said “we’re considering it” when reporters asked him about a request from the Australian government to drop the prosecution.

Anthony Albanese, the country’s prime minister, has been pressing for Assange’s release for the past few months.

The Australian journalist is currently being held at the maximum-security Belmarsh prison in southeast London.

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