Watch: Julian Assange’s wife and supporters speak ahead of extradition hearing

Watch as Julian Assange's wife and supporters held a briefing in London on Wednesday, 15 May, ahead of an extradition hearing.

Judges are expected to give a ruling on whether to accept US assurances which would pave the way for the Australian-born journalist to be sent across the Atlantic to face 18 charges, almost all of them falling under the Espionage Act.

Stella Assange, Wikileaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson, Rebecca Vincent from Reporters Without Borders, and Tim Dawson from the International Federation of Journalists were in attendance at Wednesday’s event.

The High Court’s decision is the next stage in a legal battle that has been ongoing for more than 13 years after WikiLeaks shared details from what was the biggest security breach of its kind in US military history.Mr Assange has been imprisoned in Belmarsh, in south east London, for the last five years.

He married Stella at the prison in 2022 in a ceremony attended by four guests.

Before being sent to Belmarsh, he stayed in the Ecuadorean Embassy in central London where he fled to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex offence allegations which were later dropped.