Welcome to Current Affairs. My name is Nathan Robinson. I am the editor-in-chief of Current Affairs magazine.

The UK courts recently cleared the way for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be extradited

to the United States to face charges over violating the Espionage Act, stemming from WikiLeaks

publication of thousands of leaked documents related to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in 2010.

Assange is one of the most controversial figures in the world, with some considering

him a brave and heroic journalist, exposing the secrets of the powerful, and some considering

him a dangerous criminal or even a terrorist or an asset of Russian intelligence. My guest

today knows perhaps more about this case than anyone else and can help us understand some of the legal issues involved.

He is Professor Niels Meltzer, the Human Rights Chair of the Geneva Academy of International

Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. He's also professor of international law at the University of Glasgow,

and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture.

He is the author of the new book, The Trial of Julian Assange, A Story of Persecution,

Available from Verso. Professor Meltzer, thank you so much for joining me.

Thanks for having me on the show.

So I think that one of the interesting things about your book is that you, in the beginning,

you discussed the way that you approaching Julian Assange's case were dubious at first.

You're a human rights expert.

Your appointment to the United Nations is to investigate cases of torture.

And when the Julian Assange case came across

your desk, you were a skeptic that it was even something that you should get involved with,

that it was in your purview. And I think some of the feelings that you describe, some of the

thoughts that you describe at having

...