This deten­tion, which has las­ted for 14 years, has been con­sidered arbit­rary since 2015 by the United Nations Work­ing Group on Arbit­rary Deten­tion in its Opin­ion of 4 Decem­ber 2015.

Since 2018, the U.S. has reques­ted his extra­di­tion on an indict­ment for vari­ous charges, mostly related to the highly con­tested Espi­on­age Act.

How­ever, all indic­ate that the tri­al he will under­go will not com­ply with inter­na­tion­al human rights stand­ards. He faces a 175-year sen­tence — in real­ity, per­petu­al and incom­press­ible — which would con­sti­tute an inhu­man and degrad­ing treat­ment accord­ing to the accep­ted human rights stand­ards. He will likely be sub­ject to ill-treat­ment and tor­ture dur­ing his U.S. deten­tion, both pre-tri­al and after his conviction.

In June 2022, the Brit­ish gov­ern­ment approved the extra­di­tion request. Juli­an Assange remains in pris­on in Bel­marsh pending the out­come of the appeal proceedings.