The UK High Court hands down its ruling on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s most recent appeal against extradition to the US, which took place last month. The judges refused to allow his immediate extradition, and ruled that he can appeal on three of the nine grounds in his appeal if the US and UK governments cannot provide assurances relating to these aspects of his appeal by April 16.
The three grounds for appeal are that Julian "might be prejudiced at his trial by reason of his nationality", which, as a result, might curtail his right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (or, in the US, his First Amendment rights), and that his extradition might be "barred by inadequate specialty / death penalty protection."
However, the judges refused to accept arguments by Julian’s lawyers on six other grounds, including that his proposed extradition is illegal because it is political in nature, and extradition for political reasons is banned in the US-UK Extradition Treaty of 2003.
The US and UK governments have been ordered to provide assurances, by April 16, that the above will be respected, otherwise they will grant leave to appeal without a further hearing. If the governments do provide assurances, then, the judges added, "we will give the parties an opportunity to make further submissions before we make a final decision on the application for leave to appeal", which has been provisionally listed for May 20.
So, a reprieve — another reprieve — for now, which is welcome, although it still leaves Julian stuck in Belmarsh, where he has been held for nearly five years, a lone, brave publisher, never convicted of anything, caged alongside men given long prison sentences for violent crimes.
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