Julian Assange currently avoids extradition to US, while UK Supreme Court seeks bail

(CNN) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has avoided the threat of immediate extradition to the United States after the High Court in London asked the United States for more guarantees.

US authorities say Assange, 52, endangered lives by publishing secret military documents and have been seeking his extradition for years on espionage charges.

In a two-day hearing last month, Assange sought permission to appeal the UK’s approval of his extradition in 2022, arguing that the case against him was politically motivated and that he would not face a fair trial.

In a ruling on Tuesday, the two-judge panel said Assange, an Australian citizen, would not be extradited immediately and gave the United States three weeks to make a series of assurances about Assange’s rights under the First Amendment, which he would not receive. death penalty.

If the United States does not hand him over, Assange will be allowed to appeal his extradition at a hearing in May. The ruling potentially offers Assange an extraordinary lifeline in a years-long saga in which he rose to global fame for revealing what he previously described to CNN as “compelling evidence of war crimes” committed by the US-led coalition and US forces. Iraqi government.

The Assange case and the issue of freedom of the press

Assange has been fighting extradition from London’s Belmarsh prison for the past five years and was holed up as a political refugee in the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK capital for seven years before that.

His case has drawn condemnation from free speech advocates who say his extradition, if granted, would have a chilling effect on press freedom.

The court said on Tuesday that Assange had “real prospects of success” on three of nine grounds of appeal: that his extradition would be incompatible with freedom of expression; that, if extradited, Assange could be prejudiced at trial because of his nationality; and that, if extradited, he would not enjoy the adequate protection of the death penalty.

But the court refused him leave to appeal, saying the proceedings were politically motivated. “The judge concluded on the basis of the evidence that Mr Assange had not shown that the solicitation was intended to prosecute him because of his political views,” he said.

He said the judge considered evidence that the CIA planned to kidnap Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy, ​​but the judge “concluded that this was not relevant to the extradition process.”

Nick Vamos, head of commercial crime at law firm Peters & Peters and former head of extradition at the UK Crown Prosecution Service, told CNN why some of Assange’s arguments were rejected.

“Assange was not prosecuted for exposing serious crimes of journalism or state, but for hacking and then publishing the names of sources who were at serious risk,” he said.

“In short, journalists are not immune from prosecution for criminal conduct because that conduct is also journalistic activity.”

Vamos added that he thought the United States would have “some difficulty in granting this guarantee” in court, which would pave the way for Assange’s extradition.

He said it was “straightforward” to guarantee that Assange would not face the death penalty, while First Amendment guarantees were essentially a matter of trial tactics.

Assange’s wife Stella Assange told reporters outside court after the verdict that her husband was a “political prisoner”.

“The charges against him are to punish him for publishing the truth, for publishing evidence of war crimes committed by the country that is trying to extradite him,” he said.

He called on the Biden administration to “drop this shameful case that was never brought.”

What does the US accuse him of?

Assange is being pursued by US authorities for publishing secret military records provided by former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in 2010 and 2011.

In 2019, Virginia prosecutors charged Assange with 18 counts, including one count of attempted computer hacking in connection with the release of classified military material obtained by Manning in 2010, and 17 additional counts under the US Act. espionage.

Prosecutors allege that Assange encouraged Manning to obtain thousands of pages of unfiltered US diplomatic cables that potentially compromised confidential sources, reports of vital activities related to the Iraq war and information related to detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Each of those charges carries a potential sentence of 10 years, meaning Assange could face up to 175 years in prison if convicted.

Assange did not attend a crucial last-minute hearing in February because he was too “ill” to attend, one of his lawyers said.