Assange on verge of extradition as US wins appeal

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gestures from the window of a prison van in 2017 as he is driven out of Southwark Crown Court in London, after having been sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for breaching his bail conditions in 2012. Picture: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gestures from the window of a prison van in 2017 as he is driven out of Southwark Crown Court in London, after having been sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for breaching his bail conditions in 2012. Picture: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP

Julian Assange is on the verge of being extradited after the United States won an appeal in the British High Court late Friday.

Assange’s fiance Stella Moris, outside the court, labelled the decision as a “grave miscarriage of justice”.

The High Court has sent the Assange extradition case back to the Magistrate’s court where the file will then be presented to Secretary of State for extradition.

Assange, 50, will remain behind bars at Belmarsh prison in London while this happens, and is likely to launch an immediate and final appeal to the Supreme Court to try and stop the extradition.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett and Lord Justice Holroyde addressed two of the main concerns raised by the district court judge who had ruled against Assange’s extradition because he faced oppressive conditions and was a high suicide risk.

But the High Court was satisfied the possibility of these Special Administrative Measures, or SAMs, applying to Assange would be excluded and that Assange would not be sent to a supermax prison.

Close to deportation

Another factor in the decision was a diplomatic note to allow the WikiLeaks founder to serve any future American sentence in an Australian jail.

Assange is now close to being deported to the United States to face a maximum sentence of 175 years if convicted on 17 counts of espionage.

Assange’s US charges relate to the release of hundreds of thousands of classified US documents and files relating to the Iraq and Afghanistan War Logs, the US State Embassy cables, and the Guantanamo Files in 2010 and 2011.

During the High Court hearing, the US government promised that Assange, once extradited to the US, will not be subject to SAMS, which includes solitary confinement, or be held in the notorious ADX Florence detention centre.

The High Court had also heard that the SAMS waiver “was not a blank cheque” and Assange could face such measures if he commits a future act that meets the test for SAMS.

The High Court had not been swayed by the arguments of Assange’s legal team that there may be “obvious and compelling reasons’’, why the Australia government may not allow Assange to transfer to an Australian prison even if he is sentenced by the United States authorities.

The High Court rejected the arguments presented by Assange’s legal counsel Edward Fitzgerald QC that such a prisoner transfer would rest upon the political climate at the time, may be prohibitively expensive and that Australia may decline to execute the sentence.