The Supreme Court of Great Britain decided on Tuesday that the Wikileaks founder will not be extradited to the United States for the time being.
Julian Assange has appealed the extradition order signed by then UK Home Secretary Priti Patel in 2022.
Now he is successful on three out of nine points.
The court has decided to postpone processing of the case for three weeks, pending the United States presenting “satisfactory promises” that Assange’s freedom of expression will be protected, and that he will not receive the death sentence if he is convicted.
They also ask for assurances that he will not be discriminated against because he is Australian.
It all started in 2010 when Wikileaks published large amounts of classified documents about the US’s warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan. The picture is from 2019.
Photo: AFP
If the country can ensure this, new hearings can be launched at the end of May.
If they cannot come up with such assurances, Assange will be able to appeal.
Imprisonment for five years without sentence
Julian Assange’s wife, Stella Assange, spoke to the press after the ruling. She says the court has invited a political intervention from the US, where they can send a letter that “everything is fine”.
– This case is a signal to everyone that if you expose the interests that drive a war, they will come after you.
Assange points out that her husband has been in the high-security Belmarsh prison in England for five years without a sentence.
Stella Assange calls the case against her husband shameful.
Photo: AP
– They want to punish him for publishing the truth, for publishing evidence of war crimes committed by the country that is trying to have him extradited.
She concluded by urging President Biden and his administration not to provide the assurances the court has requested, but to drop the entire case.
The supporters who were listening responded by shouting “Free free Julian Assange”.
Katrine Jaye from London and Madbloke from Essex have supported Assange for a number of years. They say they are ashamed to be British.
Photo: Gry Blekastad Almås / NRK
Former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn was also present. He has long been a supporter, and had mixed feelings about the ruling.
– It is not bad news, he says to NRK.
But he does not want to call the decision good news, and rather says that the fight continues.
– The news I’m waiting for is that Julian can go free.
Former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn had mixed feelings about the decision.
Photo: AFP
In Norway, too, several people have followed the decision closely. Foreign policy spokesperson for Rødt Bjørnar Moxnes demands action from the Norwegian authorities.
– He should never have been punished for using his freedom of speech and press. Therefore, the Støre government must give the British a clear message to respect human rights and release Assange as soon as possible, says Moxnes.
Disclosures
The Wikileaks founder has been in the British high security prison Belmarsh for five years.
Before that, he spent seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he sought refuge.
In the US, he risks 175 years in prison for espionage, but now he gets a second chance.
Police outside the London High Court before the Assange ruling.
Photo: Gry Blekastad Almås / NRK
It all started in April 2010 when Wikileaks published a video from Iraq in which US soldiers shoot and kill civilians – something the country’s authorities tried to keep hidden.
Later that year, Wikileaks publishes tens of thousands of documents that reveal war crimes and violations of human rights in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Assange’s lawyers interpret the spy indictment as a politically motivated accusation that violates international conventions as well as the extradition agreement between Great Britain and the United States.
They believe Assange has revealed truths about the US that are of great public interest and that extradition is therefore not correct.
Stella Assange is fighting for her husband. She has expressed concern for his health on several occasions.
Photo: AP
Rape allegations
In August 2010, Assange was accused of rape by two Swedish women. The cases were dropped several years later.
In June 2012, the British Supreme Court decides that Assange must be extradited to Sweden.
Facts about the process surrounding Julian Assange
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- In 2010, Wikileaks published large amounts of classified material, including about the US’s warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, partly in collaboration with newspapers such as the British Guardian and the American New York Times.
- In November 2010, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was wanted by the Swedish authorities, suspected of rape and sexual assault against two Swedish women.
- He was arrested in the UK in December of the same year, but released on bail and duty to report.
- In June 2012, the British Supreme Court confirmed that he could be extradited to Sweden. Assange feared that Sweden would extradite him to the United States and sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
- On 11 April 2019, Ecuador withdrew its protection of Assange, and British police entered the embassy and arrested him. On the same day, the United States published an indictment for complicity in data breaches.
- On 1 May 2019, Assange was sentenced in a British court to 50 weeks in prison for breaching his bail conditions in 2012.
- On 23 May 2019, the US Department of Justice published a comprehensive indictment on 18 counts in which Assange is accused, among other things, of violating the US Espionage Act.
- On 19 November 2019, Swedish prosecutors dropped the rape case against Assange, who had always denied the accusations.
- On January 4, 2021, a lower court in the United Kingdom refused to extradite Julian Assange to the United States. The court feared that American sentencing conditions could lead to Assange committing suicide. The United States appealed the case.
- On December 10, 2021, the United States prevailed in a higher court, which approved extradition. The British judges had received assurances from the United States that they will take the suicide risk into account.
- June 17, 2022: The British government approved the extradition of Julian Assange.
- 20 and 21 February 2024: After previously unsuccessful attempts to get the British Supreme Court to hear the appeal of the extradition decision, Assange makes a final attempt. The British High Court will decide whether there are now grounds for the British Supreme Court to look into the case.
Fearing that Sweden will extradite him to the United States, Assange is seeking political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Assange was arrested by British police in April 2019 and has since then been in the high-security Belmarsh prison in London.
Published 26.03.2024, at 11.32 Updated 26.03.2024, at 13.59