London — A British court has ruled that Julian Assange will not be immediately extradited to face charges in the United States, giving the U.S. government three weeks to provide assurance that the American justice system will respect several specific principles in its management of the business. Case of the founder of WikiLeaks.
The British court declared that Assange had a real chance of success on 3 of the 9 grounds of appeal, he argued. Specifically, the court demanded that US justice officials confirm that it will be allowed to rely on the First Amendment to the United States Constitution (which protects free speech), that it will not will suffer no prejudice at trial (including sentencing) because of his nationality. that he enjoys the same First Amendment protections as a U.S. citizen and that the death penalty is not imposed.
The court said that if these assurances from the US government are not given within the three-week period, Assange will be granted leave to appeal in the UK. If assurances are given, a further UK court hearing will take place on May 20 to make a final decision on the grant. Assange is allowed to appeal.
Mr Assange will therefore not be extradited immediately, the court said in its judgment on Tuesday.
Buildings are reflected in the window as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is led from court, where he appeared on charges of evading British bail, in London, May 1, 2019. Matt Dunham/AP
This is the last appeal option Assange has in the UK courts.
He can, however, if the appeal procedure in the United Kingdom is exhausted, lodge an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights to examine his case. This court could order the United Kingdom not to extradite him during its deliberations. An appeal to the European Court of Human Rights would be Assange’s last option to try to prevent his extradition to the United States.
Assange was imprisoned for almost five years in the United Kingdom and spent many years before that avoiding British authorities by holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
If extradited to the United States, Assange faces a sentence of 175 years in prison for publishing classified information about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on the WikiLeaks website.
What are the US accusations against Assange?
WikiLeaks has published thousands of leaked documents, many relating to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Assange allegedly conspired to obtain and disclose sensitive US national defense information.
In 2019, a federal grand jury in Virginia indicted Assange on 18 counts of publishing classified documents. The charges include 17 counts of espionage and one charge of computer intrusion. Assange could face up to 10 years in prison for each espionage count he is convicted of, and five years for the computer intrusion charge, according to the Justice Department.
In a statement, the US Department of Justice said Assange was complicit in the actions of Chelsea Manning, a former US Army intelligence analyst, by illegally obtaining and disclosing classified documents related to national defense. .
Assange denies any wrongdoing, and his lawyer says his life would be in danger if extradited to the United States.
More from Haley Ott
Haley Ott is the international reporter for CBS News Digital, based in the CBS News London bureau.
