{"id":644142,"date":"2019-06-23T08:40:23","date_gmt":"2019-06-23T08:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"
\"WikiLeaks<\/p>\n
\n
\"WikiLeaks<\/div>\n

British Home Secretary Sajid Javid, on Thursday, said he has approved the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the U.S.<\/p>\n

He told the BBC that it will be up to the courts to decide the next step.<\/p>\n

Mr Javid told the broadcaster that Australian citizen Assange, 47, was \u201crightly behind bars.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an extradition request from the U.S. that is before the courts on Friday, but on Wednesday I signed the extradition order and certified it, and that will be going in front of the courts tomorrow,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Assange\u2019s lawyers are expected to challenge Mr Javid\u2019s decision, paving the way for a lengthy appeal process through British courts.<\/p>\n

The U.S. government has accused Mr Assange of conspiring with former U.S. military intelligence analyst, Chelsea Manning, to leak a trove of classified material in 2010.<\/p>\n

He has been held at London\u2019s Belmarsh prison since police dragged him from the Ecuadorian embassy in London on April 11.<\/p>\n

He had spent seven years inside the embassy to avoid arrest.<\/p>\n

Mr Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison on May 1, after he was found guilty of breaching bail conditions related to an earlier extradition request from Sweden.<\/p>\n

The extradition request had wanted him to answer allegations of rape and sexual assault.<\/p>\n

After visiting him at the prison hospital on Tuesday, Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei reported that Mr Assange\u2019s health is \u201cdeteriorating.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
Get more stories like this on Twitter<\/a><\/i><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n