The Spanish justice system is considering extraditing a British citizen to the United States for illegally accessing hundreds of Twitter accounts, including that of President Joe Biden. The European Court of Justice of the European Union has already rejected an alleged interference by the United Kingdom in the case.
Joseph James, who was arrested in 2021 in Estepona (Spain), has been in prison ever since. Due to his "lack of roots" in the country and the alleged flight risk, Judge Santiago Pedraz remanded him in custody and he now awaits a decision on the legitimacy of his extradition.
The defendant worked with hackers to hack into both Twitter accounts as well as other social media accounts of Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, among other world-renowned figures. The FBI, which handled the intrusions, followed the leads until they found James in Spain.
Attempt to avoid extradition
In March 2022, Spain's National Court began working on the process to extradite the defendant to the United States, where he awaits trial. After defense lawyers consulted on the terms of such a case, requesting that the United Kingdom intervene, the European Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) denied the request.
James, who is also alleged to have illegally hacked the accounts of other public figures that have not yet been disclosed, refused to be handed over to the Department of Justice. As an alternative, he asked to serve the eventual sentence in a prison in his country. However, he is unlikely to be granted such status.
