Julian Assange’s legal drama continues after UK judges defer ruling on extradition appeal

His legal battles in Britain began in 2010, and he subsequently spent seven years holed up in Ecuador’s embassy in London before he was dragged out and jailed in 2019 for breaching bail conditions. He has been held in a maximum-security jail in southeast London ever since, even getting married there.

Multiple rights groups, leading media organisations and the leaders of countries like Mexico, Brazil and Australia have urged the charges against Assange, who is an Australian citizen, be dropped.

Lawyers for the US government said he was not being prosecuted for publication of the leaked materials, but for aiding and conspiring with former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to unlawfully obtain them, then disclosing names of sources and “putting those individuals at grave risk of harm”.

British courts gave the green light for his extradition in 2022, but he has since been trying to overturn that decision. His first appeal attempt was refused last year, leading to a two-day hearing last month when his lawyers sought to reverse that judgment. His supporters say this represents his last chance to block his extradition in the English courts.

His wife Stella Assange has said it could be a life or death decision, saying her husband would not survive if he were sent to the US.

Assange’s brother, Gabriel Shipton, said the ruling represented the extension of a “long and arduous” 13-year process to have him released and returned home to Australia.

“We are very concerned at the prospect of him being extradited to the US,” he said.

“This has gone on long enough. There are no benefits served in Julian’s continual incarceration and we hope for a diplomatic solution to be reached swiftly.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last month voted in favour of a motion in parliament’s calling for the return of Assange to Australia. The motion passed with 86 votes in favour and 42 against, with it opposed by most members of the opposition.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus raised the case with his US counterpart Merrick Garland in Washington earlier this year.

The Wall Street Journal last week reported that the US Justice Department was considering whether to allow Assange to plead guilty to a reduced charge of mishandling classified information, citing people familiar with the matter.

with agencies

More to come

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