Britain's government has approved the extradition of Julian Assange. What now?
The British government has approved the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States after he fought for years to remain in the United Kingdom.
For more than 10 years, the US has been trying to put the 50-year-old Australian on trial over the publication of classified documents.
WikiLeaks said it would challenge the order, but what comes next and what avenues can they take?
Why does the US want Mr Assange extradited?
In 2010, WikiLeaks released more than 91,000 documents, most of which were secret US military reports about the war in Afghanistan.
That same year, the publication released some 400,000 classified US military files chronicling the Iraq war from 2004 to 2009.
It’s the largest leak of its kind in US military history.
US authorities want the WikiLeaks founder on espionage charges but his supporters say he was exposing war crimes and abuses of power.
Authorities have said the release of this information put lives in danger. (AP: PA/Victoria Jones)
How has it taken so long?
Mr Assange had been granted political asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and lived there from 2012 to 2019.
In 2019, the US Justice department formally asked Britain to extradite Mr Assange to face charges in the United States.
Since April 2019, Mr Assange has been in the Belmarsh maximum-security prison while his case went through the British legal system.
Hearings into his extradition began in February, 2020, but were delayed until September because of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Early last year, the judge in the case concluded that it would be “oppressive” to extradite him to the US because of his frail mental health, saying there was a real risk that he would take his own life.
However, that decision was overturned on an appeal after the United States gave a package of assurances, including a pledge Mr Assange could be transferred to Australia to serve any sentence.
Why is he being extradited now?
Following that court decision, Britain’s interior minister, Home Secretary Priti Patel, signed an order overnight authorising Mr Assange’s extradition.
The Home Office said in a statement that the government had to approve his move to the US because “the UK courts have not found that it would be oppressive, unjust or an abuse of process to extradite Mr Assange”.
What happens next?
Mr Assange's lawyers now have 14 days to lodge an appeal.
Nick Vamos, the former head of extradition at Britain's Crown Prosecution Service, said verdicts were regularly overturned by the High Court.
Mr Assange would be able to claim, again, that the extradition request was politically motivated and use new evidence, such as his allegations that the CIA had plotted to assassinate him.
“We’re not at the end of the road here," his wife, Stella Assange, said. “We’re going to fight this.”
Julian Assange's wife, Stella Assange, says the family will fight the decision. (Reuters: Henry Nicholls)
Mr Assange's lawyers said they would mount a new legal challenge, and legal experts say the case could take months or even years more to conclude.
"We will appeal this all the way, if necessary, to the European Court of Human Rights,” Mr Assange's attorney, Jennifer Robinson, said.
Ms Robinson asked US President Joe Biden to drop the charges brought against Mr Assange during Donald Trump's presidency, arguing they posed a “grave threat” to free speech.
Barrister Greg Barns said court cases take time.
"It's been two or three years since the first extradition hearing, I think 2020 the first extradition hearing, to now," he said.
"If the court ends up going to the European Court of human rights, which it could do, it will take a number of years."
"This is an Australian whose mental and physical health continues to decline."
Australia reacts to extradition decision
Australian independent MP Andrew Wilkie has called for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to pick up the phone now and demand an end to what he's described as "madness".
“In some ways, it's not surprising, because the UK government has generally taken a hands-off approach to the Assange case,” Mr Wilkie said.
“We've been saying this is a political matter, and has been from the start.
“We're urging and hoping that now is the time for Australia to get involved with its key allies in London and Washington and bring this matter to an end.”
Mr Wilkie’s demands for the Prime Minister to talk to his UK and US counterparts has the backing of a number of crossbench MPs including Monique Ryan, Allegra Spender and Zali Stegall.
Mr Assange's family have vowed to fight the decision using every possible legal avenue.
Mr Barns said the federal government needed to intervene.
"There are a couple of important things to remember about the case," he said.
"The first is whilst it's been in the courts, it's no longer in the courts, it's a political decision.
"The second point is Australia can use its relationship with Washington to bring an Australian back to safety.
"We saw it with David Hicks almost 20 years [ago] now, who found himself in Guantanamo Bay.
"The Howard government at the time brought him back to Australia. This is not unprecedented. It is important that Australia is able to use the great relationship it has with Washington to ensure the safety of Australians."
ABC/wires