Julian Assange: WikiLeaks founder can appeal extradition to the United States

The Supreme Court has ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can lodge a new appeal against his extradition to the United States.

He was granted permission to appeal against the order to send him to the United States to stand trial on charges of leaking military secrets.

The decision means that Mr Assange will be able to challenge US guarantees over how his upcoming trial will be conducted and whether his right to freedom of expression will be violated.

The 52-year-old’s lawyers hugged each other in court after the final ruling in the legal saga.

They said the case against him – related to the release of top-secret documents nearly 15 years ago about alleged US war crimes – was politically motivated.

The United States says that the WikiLeaks files – which revealed information about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – put people’s lives in danger.

In a short ruling on Monday morning, two senior judges granted him permission to appeal against an earlier order allowing his extradition to the United States. They ruled that he needed to have a full appeal in the UK.

Assange has fought extradition from the UK for more than a decade, after his WikiLeaks website published secret US documents in 2010 and 2011.

Mr Assange, currently in Belmarsh Prison, will have several months to prepare his appeal, which will relate to whether or not US courts will protect his right to freedom of expression as an Australian citizen.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the court before the ruling, and Assange’s supporters cheered as news of the decision spread.

This means he will remain in the UK for the time being.

Had the court ruled in favor of the United States, Mr. Assange would have exhausted all legal avenues in the United Kingdom.

Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice after the decision, Ms Assange welcomed the ruling as a “turning point”.

It called on the United States to “abandon this shameful attack on journalists, the press, and the public that has been ongoing for 14 years.”

The US Department of Justice described the leak as “one of the largest breaches of classified information in the history of the United States.”

The leaked files indicate that the US military killed civilians in unreported incidents during the war in Afghanistan.

US authorities say Assange put people’s lives in danger because he failed to redact the names of intelligence agents in the documents. They also say he is not being prosecuted in relation to any of the information he says reveals war crimes.

Assange’s legal team said the case was a politically motivated form of “state retaliation.”

“He has literally exposed war crimes,” Assange told BBC Radio 4’s Today program on Monday.

“This case is that country’s revenge against openness and accountability.”

At a hearing in March, the US government was given additional time to provide assurances Mr. Assange will not receive the death penalty in the United States for two other reasons:

Last month, the judges confirmed that the United States had provided guarantees to the court.

Mr Assange and his legal team accept assurances that he will not face the death penalty if charged with further crimes.

Earlier on Monday, James Lewis KC, representing the US government, said in written submissions to the court that there was “no doubt” that Mr Assange “would be entitled to the full range of due process rights” – including In that defense of the First Amendment. -If it is delivered.