LONDON: WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange can continue his fight against extradition to the United States after the High Court in London ruled on Tuesday he should be allowed to appeal against it unless the US promises he will not face the death penalty.

US prosecutors are seeking to put 52-year-old Assange on trial on 18 counts, all bar one under the Espionage Act, over WikiLeaks’ high-profile release of confidential US military records and diplomatic cables.

In their ruling, two senior judges said he had a real prospect of successfully appealing against extradition on a number of grounds.

The court said in its written ruling that Assange arguably would not be entitled to rely on the First Amendment right to free speech as a non-US national and that he could later be charged with a capital offence, meaning it would be unlawful to extradite him.

British ministers “had an explicit statutory obligation not to order the applicants extradition if he could be sentenced to death for the offence concerned, or if he could be charged with an extradition offence disclosed by the same facts in respect of which a sentence of death could be imposed,” the judges said.

If those assurances are not forthcoming, then Assange will be granted permission to appeal. A further hearing has been scheduled for May 20, meaning his extradition that his campaign team said could have been imminent depending on the ruling has been put on hold.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2024