UK High Court has ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cannot immediately be extradited to the US on espionage charges.
Instead, the court granted a three-week period for the US government to provide assurances that it will adhere to specific principles in its prosecution of the WikiLeaks founder.
The British court said Assange has a real prospect of success on 3 of the 9 grounds of appeal he has argued.
“If assurances are not given then we will grant leave to appeal without a further hearing,” read part of the court ruling.
“If assurances are given then we will give the parties an opportunity to make further submissions before we make a final decision on the application for leave to appeal.”
Specifically, the court demanded that US justice officials confirm he will be “permitted to rely on the First Amendment to the United States Constitution (which protects free speech).”
“That he 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.”
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UK Court Ruling
The ruling means that the legal saga, which has dragged on for more than a decade, will continue. However, Wikileaks shared that Assange will continue his long detention.
Julian Assange faces 17 counts of espionage and one charge of computer misuse.
Assange has been in a UK prison since 2019 and is wanted by the US for disclosing secret military files in 2010 and 2011.
If convicted, his lawyers say the 52-year-old could receive a prison term of up to 175 years, for publishing hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
Julian Assange Court Charges
The argument against his imprisonment is that he was acting as a journalist to expose military wrongdoing and should therefore be protected under press freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
In a January 2021 ruling, a district judge said that Assange should not be sent to the US, citing a real and “oppressive” risk of suicide.
But later that year US authorities won their High Court bid to overturn this block, paving the way towards Assange’s extradition.
However, the judge ruled against him on all other issues, including the argument that he was acting as a journalist.
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Who is Assange?
Assange is an Australian computer expert as well as an editor, publisher and activist who founded Wikileaks in 2006.
He used WikiLeaks to release thousands of internal or classified documents from government and corporate entities in 2010 leading to him being indicted in the US on 18 charges.
This included documents obtained from US Army Intelligence relating to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which was deemed a threat to US National security.
The case has been adjourned until May 20.
