London: The United States is a step closer to extraditing Julian Assange to face trial over the WikiLeaks cables after securing a victory in Britain’s High Court.
Lord Justice Holroyde overturned a previous judge’s ruling that Assange should not face legal proceedings in the US because he might commit suicide. He ordered the court to send his case to Britain’s Home Secretary Priti Patel to determine whether the Australian citizen should be sent to the US.
Julian Assange, pictured in 2017, at the Ecuadorian embassy.Credit:AP
Assange’s partner and mother of two of his children, Stella Moris, said his laywers would appeal the “abusive and vindictive” prosecution.
“Julian’s lawyers are intending to appeal to the Supreme Court on this decision,” she told supporters outside the court.
“For how long can this go on? We will fight, every generation has an epic fight to fight and this ours,” she said.
Assange will remain in Belmarsh Prison.
Patel, an arch-Brexiteer, is a hawk when it comes to security, immigration and foreign policy.
Assange is wanted by the US Department of Justice over the leaking of hundreds of thousands of classified cables obtained by hacking more than a decade ago.
His lawyers have argued that his behaviour was that of a journalist, a description that has already been rejected by the British courts.
But Assange has also argued, through his lawyers, that he could commit suicide if he was held in a US supermax prison. Earlier this year, a judge accepted this as the reason for barring his extradition to the US.
The US government appealed leading to Friday’s decision handed down in the High Court and provided the court with new assurances that Assange would not be held in solitary confinement and could serve out any sentence in Australia.
“Assurances of this kind are solemn undertakings offered by one government to another,” Holroyde said.
“The US has now provided the United Kingdom with a package of assurances which respond to the District Judge’s specific findings,” he said.
He said the court was satisfied that he would not be held in a supermax prison and that he would be given psychiatric care.
“The case must be remitted to the Westminister Magistrate’s Court with a directive that the District Judge send the case to the Secretary of State who will decide whether Mr Assange should be extradited to the USA,” he said.
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2021-12-10 10:25:27Z
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