The US Justice Department has been building a criminal case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for years. There has been some evidence that there are charges secretly filed against him, pending the possibility of the US getting ahold of him.



On Wednesday, WikiLeaks has launched a lawsuit to try to force the Trump Administration to disclose any secret charges that have been filed against Assange. WikiLeaks is petitioning the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights to help with contesting extradition to the United States.



From the moment the first WikiLeaks revelations started becoming embarrassing to US officials, top officials began to rail against the group in general and Assange in particular. Concern Assange would be extradited to the US, and potentially executed, was a big reason why he sought asylum in Ecuador.



Assange has been in the Ecuadorean embassy in London for years. There is interest in him leaving the embassy, but only with assurances on what would happen to him if he did. Knowing what he is actually being secretly charged with would be a big step in figuring that out.





Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz