Julian Assange wins right to continue extradition fight in U.K. High Court

LONDON — On Monday, the U.K.’s High Court ruled that Julian Assange can continue appealing his extradition to the United States, marking the latest obstacle in America’s long-running effort to prosecute the WikiLeaks founder on espionage charges.

The United States accuses Assange of conspiring with Chelsea Manning, a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst, who leaked hundreds of thousands of classified documents to Assange. These included approximately 250,000 U.S. Department of State cables, which WikiLeaks began publishing in 2010.

In 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an 18-count indictment accusing Assange of violating the Espionage Act by allegedly obtaining, receiving, and disclosing classified information. A superseding indictment in 2020 added allegations that Assange conspired with the hacking group Anonymous.

In March, the U.K. court stated that extradition could proceed if the U.S. provided sufficient assurances that Assange’s case would be considered under the full protections of the First Amendment and that he would not face the death penalty.

The U.S. Embassy in London reportedly sent these assurances, including a guarantee against the death penalty, to the United Kingdom in April.

Assange has been held in Belmarsh Prison, a high-security facility in southeastern London, for the past five years. Stella Assange, his longtime partner, married him in 2022.

“Whatever the High Court decides today, please keep fighting for Julian until he is free,” Stella Assange said on Monday.

Anthony Albanese, the prime minister of Australia, Assange’s home country, has also urged the U.S. to drop its extradition request. “Enough is enough,” he stated last month.

U.S. President Joe Biden said in April that he was “considering” Australia’s request, according to the Associated Press.

Last week, the Committee to Protect Journalists called for the U.S. government to drop the extradition request, arguing that sending Assange across the Atlantic “would allow for the prosecution of journalists who are simply doing their jobs and covering matters of public interest,” the organization stated in an open letter dated May 17.

White House and State Department officials have declined to discuss the potential extradition. When asked about it during press briefings in April, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller referred specifics to the Department of Justice but emphasized that the U.S. considers the allegations against Assange to be beyond “legitimate journalistic practice.” Assange is accused of “helping [Manning] actually break into government systems to retrieve classified information,” Miller said.

On Friday, a group of European Parliament members published an open letter asking U.K. Home Secretary James Cleverly to halt the extradition.

“As elected representatives who have followed this case closely, it is our view that there is no legitimate reason for the continued persecution of Mr. Assange and that he should be allowed to be united with his family,” the 31 members wrote.

ABC News