Assange can appeal against US extradition on espionage charges, UK court rules

London: Julian Assange’s wife says US President Joe Biden is running out of time to “do the right thing” after a UK court ruled that the WikiLeaks founder could make a final challenge against extradition over espionage charges.

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

Assange has been in custody at Belmarsh prison in south-east London since April 2019, following his expulsion from the Ecuadorian embassy, where he lived as a fugitive for seven years to avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault charges.

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.

Dame Victoria Sharp, the president of the King’s Bench Division of the High Court, and Justice Johnson granted leave to appeal on those points. A date has not yet been set for the appeal hearing.

Assange was not in court because of his deteriorating mental and physical health, but among his supporters present were his wife, Stella, and his father, John Shipton.

Stella Assange leaves the High Court in London, on Monday.Credit: AP

Speaking to thousands of supporters gathered outside the court after the hearing, Stella Assange said Biden had the opportunity to drop the 13-year-legal pursuit of her husband before the presidential election in November.

“We are relieved as a family that the courts took the right decision today, but how long can this go on for? Our eldest son just turned seven,” she said.

“All their memories of their father are in the visiting hall of Belmarsh prison and, as the case goes along, it becomes clearer and clearer to everyone that Julian is in prison for doing good journalism, for exposing corruption, for exposing the violations on innocent people in abusive wars for which there is impunity.”

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 was reckless, damaged national security and endangered the lives of agents.

Assange’s 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.

Biden said last month that he was considering a request from Australia to drop the case and let Assange return to his home country.

His lawyers hugged each other in court after the ruling while huge cheers erupted from outside court as the news 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. Whistleblower Manning ’s 35-year prison sentence was commuted by then-president Barack Obama after she served almost seven.

James Lewis, representing the US government, said no one – neither US citizens nor foreign citizens – was entitled to rely on the First Amendment in relation to publication of illegally obtained national defence information giving the names of innocent sources.

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