WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange leaves Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London, England.
Henry Nichols | Reuters
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange won permission from a British court on Tuesday to appeal against his extradition to the United States, where he is wanted on espionage charges.
The court said Assange would therefore not be immediately extradited.
The ruling at London’s Royal Courts of Justice means Assange will have the opportunity for a new hearing unless the United States provides “satisfactory assurances” in some respects to address his grounds for appeal.
The court said it would give the United States three weeks to ensure that Assange can rely on the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that he will not be prejudiced at trial because of his nationality and receive the same First Amendment protections as a U.S. citizen. Sentenced to death.
If these assurances are not made, an appeal hearing will be held. The court said a further hearing on May 20 would determine whether the guarantees provided were satisfactory.
The 52-year-old has been fighting extradition for more than a decade. During this period, Assange spent seven years in self-imposed exile at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and the last nearly five years at the high-security Belmarsh prison on the outskirts of the British capital.
Assange is wanted in the United States on 18 counts, 17 of which are under the Espionage Act and one under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. He faces up to 175 years in prison after WikiLeaks released hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
USA explain The charges relate to what Assange called “one of the largest leaks of classified information in U.S. history.”
U.S. prosecutors are seeking to put Assange on trial for leaking classified military documents and diplomatic cables. Assange has denied wrongdoing and his lawyers have said the case against him is politically motivated.
Metropolitan police outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London ahead of the extradition hearing of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Image date: Wednesday, February 21, 2024.
James Manning – PA Images | PA Images | Getty Images
WikiLeaks gained international prominence in 2010 when the site published video of the 2007 U.S. helicopter attack that killed two Reuters news staff and several others in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
It followed that high-profile release with hundreds of thousands of other classified documents, revelations that often embarrassed Washington.
WikiLeaks said Assange did not attend a two-day hearing at London’s High Court in February due to “seriously ill health” explain Through X social media sites at the time.
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