Assange Plans To Appeal High Court Decision Backing Extradition To United States

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange | Photo by Cancillería Ecuador

Attorneys for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange plan to appeal to the Supreme Court in the United Kingdom after the country’s appeals court overturned a decision that blocked the extradition of Assange to the United States.

The High Court of Justice was “satisfied” with diplomatic assurances offered by the U.S. government related to how Assange would be treated in jail or prison, and they stated, “There is no reason why this court should not accept the assurances as meaning what they say.”

“There is no basis for assuming that the U.S.A. has not given the assurances in good faith,” the High Court also insisted.

More significantly, the High Court remitted the case back to the district court and instructed a district judge at this level to send the request to the Secretary of State in the Home Department for extradition. The Home Department previously allowed the extradition request to be considered by a district court.

The High Court decision came on Human Rights Day, a day marked by countries in the United Nations, and the decision was immediately condemned by press freedom and human rights groups, and various other civil society organizations throughout the world.

Assange is detained at Her Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh in London, a high-security prison where he has been held since he was expelled from the Ecuador Embassy on April 11, 2019. He faces 18 charges—17 of which are charges under the Espionage Act.

The Espionage Act is a U.S. law passed in 1917 that the Justice Department has increasingly wielded against media sources who share “classified” documents or talk about sensitive information with journalists.

Assange’s attorneys at Birnberg Peirce indicated their “appeal to the Supreme Court would relate to the question of the assurances. Appeals on other important questions, including questions of free speech and on the political motivation of the U.S. extradition request, have yet to be considered by an appeal court.” (They will likely be considered after an appeal of this decision.)

"This decision marks a disastrous turning point for journalists and journalism around the world," declared Rebecca Vincent, the Reporters Without Borders director of international campaigns. “It falls on the very day when we should celebrate the presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize to two journalists and urge states to respect their commitments to press freedom, which they have just reaffirmed at the Summit for Democracy organized by United States.”

“We call on the U.S. government to truly lead by example and to close this case now, before it does any more damage. Julian Assange should be released immediately and steps should be taken so that no other journalist, editor, or source can be targeted in this way.”

“This is a travesty of justice. By allowing this appeal, the High Court has chosen to accept the deeply flawed diplomatic assurances given by the U.S. that Assange would not be held in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison,” said Amnesty International’s Europe director Nils Muižnieks. “The fact that the U.S. has reserved the right to change its mind at any time means that these assurances are not worth the paper they are written on.”

 https://thedissenter.org/assange-plans-appeal-high-court-decision-extradition/