Assange can appeal against US extradition on espionage charges ...
London: A UK court has ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can make a final challenge against extradition to the United States over espionage charges.
In a decision that is likely to further drag out what has already been a 13-year legal saga, the 52-year-old Australian was granted permission to appeal against the order that he be sent to the US to stand trial for leaking military secrets.
Julian Assange has been granted leave to appeal against his extradition to the US.Credit: AP
The decision means Assange’s legal team will be able to challenge US assurances over how his prospective trial would be conducted and whether his right to free speech would be infringed.
Assange was not in court to hear his fate being debated, amid growing concerns for his mental and physical health.
His lawyers hugged each other in court after the ruling while huge cheers erupted from supporters outside court as news of the ruling reached them from inside the Royal Courts of Justice.
Assange’s barrister, Edward Fitzgerald, said prosecutors had failed to guarantee his client, who claims protections as a journalist for publishing classified information, could rely on press protections of the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
“The real issue is whether an adequate assurance has been provided to remove the real risk identified by the court,” Fitzgerald said. “It is submitted that no adequate assurance has been made.”
American prosecutors allege that Assange encouraged and helped US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks published.
James Lewis, representing the US government, said Assange’s conduct was “simply unprotected” by the First Amendment.
“No one, neither US citizens nor foreign citizens, are entitled to rely on the First Amendment in relation to publication of illegally obtained national defence information giving the names of innocent sources, to their grave and imminent risk of harm,” Lewis said.
In March, the High Court provisionally gave Assange permission to appeal on three grounds. But it gave the US the opportunity to provide satisfactory assurances that it would not seek the death penalty and would allow him to seek to rely on a First Amendment right to free speech in a trial.
In a short ruling, two senior judges said the US submissions were not sufficient and said they would allow the appeal to go ahead.
US authorities want to put Assange on trial on 18 charges, nearly all under the Espionage Act, for publishing military documents on the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, which prosecutors say were reckless, damaged national security, and endangered the lives of agents.
The US government has described the leaks as “one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States”.
The Australian was first taken to Belmarsh high-security prison five years ago after he was removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he had stayed for seven years while trying to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex crime allegations that were later dropped.
Assange’s lawyers say he could face up to 175 years in prison if convicted, though American authorities have said any sentence would likely be much shorter.
His many global supporters call the prosecution a travesty, an assault on journalism and free speech, and revenge for causing embarrassment. Calls for the case to be dropped have come from human rights groups, media bodies and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, along with other political leaders.
US President Joe Biden said last month that he was considering a request from Australia to drop the case and let Assange return to his home country.
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