Court temporarily stops Assange’s extradition
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has achieved a partial success in court: He cannot be extradited to the USA for the time being.
The case has therefore been postponed for now – and will go into the next hearing on May 20th.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has received another reprieve in his application to appeal against the threat of extradition to the USA. The London High Court ruled that he should not be extradited immediately. Accordingly, the Australian’s application for an appeal could still be granted.
As the judges explained, the appeal was rejected on six out of nine points. On three other points it depends on whether the US government and the British Home Secretary can provide appropriate guarantees.
The judges gave the US a three-week deadline to ensure “satisfactorily” that Assange would be protected by freedom of expression laws if he were tried in the US and that he would not face the death penalty. The USA has been demanding the extradition of the Australian imprisoned in Great Britain for years.
A final decision is expected to be made based on a further hearing on May 20.
Accused of espionage
For Assange, the decision represents a partial success. He is charged with 17 counts of espionage and computer misuse because he published a series of classified US documents on his disclosure platform almost 15 years ago.
During a two-day hearing in February, Assange’s lawyer said U.S. authorities wanted to punish his client because the platform had exposed “crimes by the U.S. government on an unprecedented scale,” including torture and killings.
Julian Assange’s supporters: prosecution politically motivated
Assange’s supporters argue that he is a journalist protected by the First Amendment who exposed U.S. military misconduct in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is in the public interest. His prosecution was politically motivated and he could not get a fair trial in the USA.
According to the US government, Assange’s actions go beyond journalism. He used WikiLeaks to steal confidential government documents and publish them indiscriminately, thereby endangering the lives of innocent people.
