LONDON: Julian Assange was on Monday denied permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court against moves to extradite him to the United States, where he could face a lifetime in prison.

Washington wants to put the WikiLeaks founder on trial in connection with the publication of 500,000 secret military files relating to the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The ruling brings the long-running legal saga in the UK courts closer to a conclusion, unless Assange’s lawyers launch a challenge on a separate point in the case.

In January last year, the 50-year-old Australian appeared to have won a reprieve on the grounds he was a suicide risk if he was kept in solitary confinement at a maximum security US facility.

But the US government appealed, and at a two-day appeal hearing in October its lawyers pointed to diplomatic assurances that Assange would not be held in punishing isolation at a federal supermax prison, and would receive appropriate care.

Approving that appeal, two judges accepted the new assurances, noting they were not unusual in such cases and “solemn undertakings offered by one government to another”.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2022