A United Kingdom court has ruled that Julian Assange can challenge his extradition to the United States. The decision came after a panel of London-based judges found that U.S. assurances regarding how Assange’s trial would be conducted were insufficient. An appeal hearing will likely happen in several months.
Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is wanted by U.S. government officials over allegations of espionage. The charges relate to the leaking and posting online of a trove of U.S. national security materials related to classified, confidential military and diplomatic documents pertaining to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If convicted, Assange could face up to 175 years in prison.
The court fight over Assange‘s extraction has taken nearly a decade, beginning shortly after WikiLeaks’s publication of classified documents. In March, however, his extradition began to move forward with the Royal Courts of Justice in London ruling that the U.S. could pursue extradition if “satisfactory assurances” about the preservation of Assange’s rights at trial were met. Specifically, the U.K. court demanded that Assange be extended U.S. First Amendment rights at trial despite being an Australian citizen. In addition, the U.K. judges asked that the U.S. would exclude the death penalty for Assange.
On Monday, Edward Fitzgerald — the attorney representing Assange — argued that the U.S. government assurances regarding Assange’s rights at trial were “blatantly inadequate.” James Lewis, the U.S. legal representative, contented that any offered assurances could not bind U.S. courts but that the Biden government would try to implement the requested provisions as much as possible.
