Julian Assange’s final chance of appeal against extradition kicks off tomorrow

The long-running legal battle over the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange makes a return to the English court this week, as he faces a 175-year jail sentence across the Atlantic.

The Government of the US requested the extradition of Julian Assange to stand trial after the US Department of Justice indicted Australian-born Assange on 18 counts, including allegations of breaking spying laws and conspiring to hack government computers.

Assange has been held in London’s Belmarsh prison since his arrest in April 2019.

Prior to that, he 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.

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

He tried his case at the Supreme Court, but it refused his appeal on the grounds that the application did not “raise an arguable point of law.”

His case goes to the King’s Bench Division this week and is set to be his final appeal against the extradition.

Speaking at a Foreign Press Association on Thursday, his wife Stella Moris said: “If it doesn’t go Julian’s way, there is no opportunity to appeal to the Supreme Court or anywhere else in this jurisdiction.”

The hearing will start on Tuesday and will be heard over the course of two days in front of the president of KBD Dame Victoria Sharp and Mr Justice Johnson.