US ‘hypocritical’ to seek Wikileaks founder’s extradition but not send Anne Sacoolas back to UK for trial over son’s death

This article is more than 6 months old

This article is more than 6 months old

The family of Harry Dunn has called for Julian Assange not to be extradited as long as the United States refuses to send the suspect in the teenager’s death back to Britain.

The family has have accused the US government of “demonstrating an extraordinary amount of hypocrisy” in seeking the Wikileaks founder’s extradition but rejecting a request for Anne Sacoolas to return to Britain.

Dunn, 19, died when his motorbike was involved in a collision with a car outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on 27 August 2019.

Sacoolas, 42, the wife of an intelligence official based at the US military base, claimed diplomatic immunity and was able to return to her home country, sparking an international controversy.

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The US refused an extradition request for Sacoolas last month.

Dunn’s family has asked the foreign affairs secretary, Dominic Raab, to halt the extradition process for Assange before the beginning of the first full court hearing on Monday.

The Mail on Sunday quoted Radd Seiger, the Dunn family’s spokesman: “Despite its disgraceful refusal to extradite Anne Sacoolas, the US continues to seek the extradition of people in the UK – such as Julian Assange. In doing so, they are demonstrating an extraordinary amount of hypocrisy.

“As Dominic Raab told us when we met with him on January 27: ‘We are reviewing all options.’ We want him now to exercise the option of not extraditing Julian Assange to the US.”

Assange, 48, is being held in Belmarsh prison, in south-east London, and is wanted in the US to face 18 charges over the publication of US cables a decade ago. If found guilty he could face a 175-year sentence.

Dunn’s family has previously called for the Duke of York to cooperate with law enforcement in the US amid allegations around his friendship with the billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

At a press conference earlier this month, Seiger joined a lawyer for alleged victims of Epstein to call for both Sacoolas to return to the UK and Prince Andrew to face questioning from the FBI in the US.

Allegations about Andrew surfaced from Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was trafficked by Epstein and alleged the duke slept with her on three occasions, including when she was 17 – still a minor under US law.

Andrew has strenuously denied the allegations.