Julian Assange: Ruling on right to appeal US extradition delayed

The decision on whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can appeal his extradition to the United States has been delayed by the English High Court as it waits for “assurances” from the US Government.

The legal battle over the extradition of Julian Assange has been in and out of court for several years. The Australian-born activist faces a 175-year jail sentence in the United States.

The US Government requested the extradition of Assange in order for him to stand trial after the US Department of Justice indicted him 18 counts, including allegations of breaking spying laws and conspiring to hack government computers.

Assange was famously held up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he had claimed political asylum in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden to face allegations of rape and sexual assault, but that investigation was dropped in 2019.

After 2,487 days in the embassy, Ecuador revoked his political asylum in April 2019, leading him to be arrested by the Metropolitan police.

Assange has been held in London’s Belmarsh prison ever since the arrest, while the US has been fighting to have him taken across the Atlantic.

The US won a legal bid in the High Court in December 2021 to have him extradited to face charges.

Assange went on to try his case at the Supreme Court, but the highest court in the country refused his appeal on the grounds that the application did not “raise an arguable point of law.”

Last month, his case went to the English court with a hearing heard in front of the president of KBD Dame Victoria Sharp and Mr Justice Johnson on whether he could bring an appeal.

On Tuesday, the High Court, granted his application to amend the grounds of appeal. However, it refused his application to adduce fresh evidence. It also refused the renewed application for leave to appeal on several grounds including “extradition incompatible with article 7 of the Convention”.

The court adjourned his renewed application for leave to appeal on other grounds including death penalty protection, prejudiced of nationality and freedom of expression under article 10 of Convention.

It has also adjourned it decision on three grounds in relation to the renewed application until 20 May. The High Court said the United States has permission to file any assurance to the court by 16 April.

Dame Victoria Sharp said any assurances from the United States would need to include “that [Assange] is permitted to rely on the first amendment, that the applicant is not prejudiced at trial, including sentence, by reason of his nationality, that he is afforded the same first amendment protections as a United States citizen, and that the death penalty is not imposed”.

The court stated that if in the event no assurance has been filed, then leave to appeal will be granted on those three grounds.

Speaking outside the High Court on Tuesday morning, his wife, Stella Assange, said the decision today was “astounding” as the courts that recognise that Julian is discriminated against based on his nationality and that he is “exposed to the death penalty”.

She said that the court has “invited a political intervention by the US” to write to the court to say ‘this is okay’. She noted that the “US has plotted to assassinate Julian and to kidnap him”.

She said her husband is a “political prisoner and journalist that exposed war”. She added that the Biden administration should not issue assurance, it should drop the case”