London: WikiLeaks representatives and Julian Assange's fiancee arrived at a London court on Monday, ahead of a ruling on whether the website's founder can be extradited to the United States.
WikiLeaks spokesman Kristin Hrafnsson, ambassador Joseph Farrell and Assange's fiancee Stella Moris made their way to the Central Criminal Court entrance through a scrum of reporters and protesters.
District Judge Vanessa Baraitser will decide whether Assange can be extradited to face espionage charges over WikiLeaks' publication of classified American military documents a decade ago.
Read: UK Judge to rule on Assange extradition to US
"I hope very much that the judge makes a decision to set Julian Assange free, but I must say her conduct at this trial so far doesn't really bear out that hope," said John Reese, of the Don't Extradite Assange Campaign.
"If she decides to go ahead with the extradition - then you can be absolutely sure that his defence team will appeal that," he added.
U.S. prosecutors have indicted Assange on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse – charges carrying a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.
Lawyers for the 49-year-old Australian argue that he was acting as a journalist and is entitled to First Amendment protections of freedom of speech for publishing leaked documents that exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
AP
