WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen in a police van, after he was arrested by British police, in London, Britain April 11, 2019. (Henry Nicholls/Reuters)

Next Step in Assange Extradition Case Due in UK Court on Friday

LONDON—WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange is due before a London court on Friday, June 14, facing the next stage of a U.S. attempt to try him on spying charges after Britain’s interior minister said he had validated the American extradition request.

Assange, 47, is accused of conspiring to hack U.S. government computers and violating an espionage law.

He is currently in a London prison after being jailed for 50 weeks for skipping bail after fleeing to the Ecuadorean embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning in a sexual assault investigation in 2012.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gestures from the window of a prison van as he is driven out of Southwark Crown Court in London on May 1, 2019. (Daniel Leol-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images)

“I am very pleased the police were finally able to apprehend him and now he’s rightfully behind bars because he broke UK law,” British Home Secretary Sajid Javid told BBC radio.

“Yesterday I signed the extradition order and certified it and that will be going in front of the courts tomorrow. It is ultimately a decision for the courts.”

Javid’s certification means the extradition request is a valid one but it will be for a judge to decide whether Assange can be sent to the United States.

Julian Assange speaks to the media from the balcony of the Embassy Of Ecuador in London, England on May 19, 2017. (Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

On April 11, police forcibly removed Assange from the Ecuadorean Embassy near Harrods department store in central London. Assange took refuge in the embassy there in 2012 while being sought by Swedish authorities for questioning in a sexual assault investigation.

U.S. prosecutors said they had charged him with conspiracy in trying to access a classified U.S. government computer.

They added a further 17 criminal charges to that indictment when they submitted a formal extradition request.

Swedish prosecutors have also said they want to extradite Assange as part of a rape investigation that was dropped in 2017 although no formal request has yet been submitted.

He was too ill to attend that hearing and is due to appear by videolink on Friday at Westminster Magistrates’ Court where a date for his full U.S. extradition hearing is likely to be set.

By Michael Holden