Assange faces criminal charges for publishing classified information that was leaked to WikiLeaks by an American soldier, then known as Bradley Manning, but now, after gender reassignment surgery, known as Chelsea Manning.

11 years ago today WikiLeaks published Collateral Murder. It was a defining moment in our understanding of the Iraq war.

The publisher, Julian Assange, faces a 175 year sentence for publishing evidence of such crimes, government abuses & corruption https://t.co/7ZquWpnImm pic.twitter.com/cgXkjouO02

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 5, 2021

The Americans have filed an appeal against the verdict not to extradite him. Assange had time until 29 March to respond, after which a decision was to be made whether to let the appeal go ahead.

On 4 January, British District Judge Vanessa Baraister ruled that Assange should not be extradited, saying the risk he would commit suicide in a US jail were too high.

The Collateral Murder video was released on 5 April 2010. It showed an Apache helicopter firing on a Reuters journalist and his assistant and a number of others in the suburb of New Baghdad. Two children were seriously wounded.

A website dedicated to the release of the video says: "The [US] military did not reveal how the Reuters staff were killed, and stated that they did not know how the children were injured.

"After demands by Reuters, the incident was investigated and the US military concluded that the actions of the soldiers were in accordance with the law of armed conflict and its own 'Rules of Engagement'.

The Collateral Murder video was released by @wikileaks 11 years ago today.

It showed US forces murdering unarmed civilians in Iraq.

Julian Assange & Chelsea Manning are the only people who have been punished in connection with this war crime.pic.twitter.com/myECG6ILFW

— Lee Camp [Redacted] (@LeeCamp) April 5, 2021

"Consequently, WikiLeaks has released the classified Rules of Engagement for 2006, 2007 and 2008, revealing these rules before, during, and after the killings."

iTWire has contacted Greg Barns, one of Assange's lawyers, to find out the status of the appeal.

"What are the differences between Mark Zuckerberg and me? I give private information on corporations to you for free, and I'm a villain. Zuckerberg gives your private information to corporations for money and he’s Man of the Year." ~ Julian Assange

— Noam Chomsky (@noamchomskyT) April 3, 2021