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27-03-2024
LONDON: The British High Court in London rules WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be allowed to appeal against his extradition to the United States unless the US provided assurances, including on death penalty.
The judges said the US authorities had three weeks to give those assurances, with a final decision to be made in late May.
Prosecutors in the US are seeking to put Assange on trial on charges of espionage relating to WikiLeaks’s release of classified documents relating to the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Amnesty International says the UK High Court’s decision “leaves in limbo Julian Assange and all defenders of press freedom” but “the fight continues,” Simon Crowther, Amnesty’s legal adviser said.
“The US lawyers now have a second opportunity to make diplomatic assurances which the court will consider in May. Instead of allowing this protracted legal process to continue, the US should drop all charges against Assange.”
Crowther also said that the “UK remains intent on extraditing Assange despite the grave risk that he will be subjected to torture or ill-treatment in the US.”
“While the US has allegedly assured the UK that it will not violate Assange’s rights, we know from past cases that such ‘guarantees’ are deeply flawed and the diplomatic assurances so far in the Assange case are riddled with loopholes,” he added.
“The US must stop its politically motivated prosecution of Assange, which puts Assange and media freedom at risk worldwide. In trying to imprison him, the US is sending an unambiguous warning to publishers and journalists everywhere that they too could be targeted and that it is not safe for them to receive and publish classified material even if doing so is in the public interest.”
It’s a few minutes past 12pm (12:00 GMT) in the UK, so here are the latest updates on the proceedings at the High Court in London.
Judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson have ruled that Assange will not be extradited immediately.
The US has been given three weeks to provide additional guarantees, including that Assange will not face the death penalty.
If the US provides the requested assurances by April 16, a second hearing could be held on May 20 for the court to consider whether to grant an appeal.
Assange’s wife Stella is expected to give a speech in response to this ruling.
The National Union of Journalists in the UK has welcomed the ruling saying it gives the WikiLeaks founder more time, but said “the risks to Assange and press freedom remain stark”.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the UK has welcomed the “temporary reprieve” in Assange’s appeal judgement but said the risks to press freedom “remain stark”.
Michelle Stanistreet, the union’s general secretary, said in a statement that a “temporary reprieve is clearly preferable to an extradition that would have taken place in the coming days”. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
