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stella assange
'Finally a Glimmer of Hope': UK Court Rules Assange Can Appeal Extradition
"The High Court's decision is a rare piece of positive news for Julian Assange and all defenders of press freedom," one Amnesty expert said.
May 20, 2024
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may appeal an extradition order to the U.S., the U.K. High Court ruled on Monday.
The 52-year-old Assange faces 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse due to WikiLeaks' publication of classified U.S. documents nearly 15 years ago. He has spent the last five years fighting extradition in London's high-security Belmarsh Prison.
"The High Court's decision is a rare piece of positive news for Julian Assange and all defenders of press freedom," Amnesty International legal adviser Simon Crowther said in response to the decision. "The High Court has rightly concluded that—if extradited to the USA, Assange will be at risk of serious abuse, including prolonged solitary confinement, which would violate the prohibition on torture or other ill-treatment."
"If the Biden administration cares about press freedom, it must drop the Assange case immediately."
The charges against Assange stem from WikiLeaks publications that revealed U.S. and U.K. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. U.S. prosecutors argue that Assange persuaded and facilitated U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in stealing classified documents that contained proof of these crimes, while Assange's lawyers maintain that he acted as a journalist and should be protected as one.
"Under the legal theory the government relies on in the indictment, any journalist could be convicted of violating the Espionage Act for obtaining or receiving national defense information from a source, communicating with a source to encourage them to provide national defense information, or publishing national defense information—acts journalists engage in every day," the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) warned in a statement.
In March, the U.K.'s High Court delayed Assange's extradition until the Biden administration could provide certain assurances, including that Assange would have protection under the First Amendment and that he would not face the death penalty. The court gave the administration three weeks to respond, and set a May 20 hearing date to determine if the assurances were sufficient or if Asange could appeal his extradition.
During Monday's hearing, Assange's lawyers argued that the administration's assurances were "blatantly inadequate," according toThe Associated Press.
While Assange's legal team accepted the assurance that the U.S. would not seek the death penalty as an "unambiguous executive promise," they did did not accept the U.S. response to whether or not Assange would be granted the same First Amendment rights as a U.S. citizen.
As The Guardian reported:
Edward Fitzgerald KC, representing Assange, said problems surrounding the assurances by the U.S. were "multifold" and they did not rule out the possibility of a U.S. court ruling that the WikiLeaks founder, as a foreigner, was not entitled to First Amendment rights.
The assurance was not that Assange could "rely" on First Amendment rights but "merely that he can seek to raise" them, Fitzgerald said.
In response to these arguments, High Court Judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson determined that Assange could appeal his extradition.
WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said the ruling was "finally a glimmer of hope" for Assange.
The WikiLeaks founder's wife, Stella Assange, said the U.S. had put "lipstick on a pig—but the judges did not buy it," according to AP.
"As a family we are relieved but how long can this go on?" she asked. "This case is shameful and it is taking an enormous toll on Julian."
FPF deputy director of advocacy Caitlin Vogus said the group welcomed the decision and urged the court to deny the extradition request.
"But better yet, the Biden administration can and should end this case now," Vogus continued.
"If [U.S. President Joe] Biden continues to pursue the Assange prosecution, he risks creating a precedent that could be used against any reporter who exposes government secrets, even if they reveal official crimes," Vogus added. "If the Biden administration cares about press freedom, it must drop the Assange case immediately."
Amnesty's Crowther agreed: "The USA's ongoing attempt to prosecute Assange puts media freedom at risk worldwide. It ridicules the USA's obligations under international law, and their stated commitment to freedom of expression. In trying to imprison him, the U.S. is sending the unambiguous message that they have no respect for freedom of expression, and that they wish to send a warning to journalists and publishers everywhere: that they too could be targeted, for receiving and publishing classified material—even if doing so is in the public interest."
"As the fight continues in the U.K. courts, we call on the USA to finally put an end to this shameful saga, by dropping all the charges against Assange," Crowther continued. "This would bring the process in the U.K. to an immediate halt, and Julian Assange will be freed. Assange has already spent five years in prison in the U.K., much of which has been arbitrary."
Assange, whose has suffered from health problems, has been confined in one form or another since 2010. For nearly seven years before 2019, he sheltered in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.
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'Weasel Words': Julian Assange's Wife Slams US Assurances to UK
"The diplomatic note does nothing to relieve our family's extreme distress about his future—his grim expectation of spending the rest of his life in isolation in U.S. prison for publishing award-winning journalism."
Apr 16, 2024
The wife of jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sharply criticized "assurances" the U.S. government made as the U.K. High Court considers allowing the 52-year-old Australian's extradition to the United States, where he faces 175 years in prison.
The U.S. document states that if extradited, "Assange will have the ability to raise and seek to rely upon at trial (which includes any sentencing hearing) the rights and protections given under the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States," though it points out that "a decision as to the applicability of the First Amendment is exclusively within the purview of the U.S. courts."
"A sentence of death will neither be sought nor imposed on Assange," the document adds, noting that he has not been charged with any offense for which that is a possible punishment. It comes after the U.K. court ruled last month that the Biden administration had until Tuesday to confirm that he wouldn't face the death penalty and if it did not, he could continue appealing his extradition.
Responding on social media, his wife, Stella Assange—who is an attorney—blasted the U.S. assurances as "weasel words."
"The United States has issued a nonassurance in relation to the First Amendment, and a standard assurance in relation to the death penalty," she said. "It makes no undertaking to withdraw the prosecution's previous assertion that Julian has no First Amendment rights because he is not a U.S citizen."
"The Biden administration must drop this dangerous prosecution before it is too late."
"Instead, the U.S. has limited itself to blatant weasel words claiming that Julian can 'seek to raise' the First Amendment if extradited," she added. "The diplomatic note does nothing to relieve our family's extreme distress about his future—his grim expectation of spending the rest of his life in isolation in U.S. prison for publishing award-winning journalism. The Biden administration must drop this dangerous prosecution before it is too late."
The U.K. court's next hearing is scheduled for May 20. Last week, reporters asked U.S. President Joe Biden about requests from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and members of the country's Parliament to drop the extradition effort and charges. He said that "we're considering it."
So far, the Biden administration has ignored significant pressure from Australian and U.S. politicians as well as human rights and press freedom groups, and continued to pursue the extradition of Julian Assange, who was charged under former President Donald Trump—the Republican expected to face the Democratic president in the November election.
Assange was charged under the Espionage Act and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for publishing classified documents including the "Collateral Murder" video and the Afghan and Iraq war logs. Since British authorities dragged Assange out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London—where he lived with political asylum for seven years—he has been jailed in the city's Belmarsh Prison.
The WikiLeaks founder's wife, with whom he has two children, was not alone in condemning the U.S. assurances on Tuesday.
"This 'assurance' should make journalists even more worried about how the Assange prosecution could impact press freedom in the U.S. and globally. The U.K. should grant Assange's appeal and refuse to extradite him," said the Freedom of the Press Foundation. "The U.S. doesn't disclaim the ability to argue that the First Amendment doesn't apply to Assange because of his nationality or other reasons, or for a court to rule against a First Amendment challenge to his prosecution."
Jameel Jaffer, director of the Knight First Amendment Institute, similarly said that "no one who cares about press freedom should take any comfort at all from the United States' assurance that Assange will be permitted to 'rely upon' the First Amendment."
"If the prosecution goes forward, the U.S. government will be trying to persuade American courts that the First Amendment poses no bar to the prosecution of a publisher under the Espionage Act," Jaffer warned. "And if the government is successful, no journalist will ever again be able to publish U.S. government secrets without risking her liberty."
"So the government's First Amendment assurances aren't responsive at all to the concerns that press freedom advocates have been raising," he concluded. "This case poses essentially the same threat to press freedom today as it did yesterday."
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'Do the Right Thing,' Say Assange Defenders as Biden Mulls Dropping Case
"This would be the best decision Biden ever made," said one supporter of the jailed WikiLeaks publisher.
Apr 10, 2024
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday said his administration is weighing the Australian government's requests to drop charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been deprived of his freedom since 2010 and is currently jailed in London's notorious Belmarsh Prison while fighting extradition to the United States.
Asked by reporters at the White House about requests from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and members of the country's Parliament for the U.S. and United Kingdom to drop the extradition effort and charges against Assange—an Australian citizen—Biden said that "we're considering it."
Stella Assange, Julian's wife, responded to Biden's remarks on social media. "Do the right thing," she wrote. "Drop the charges. #FreeAssangeNOW."
Srećko Horvat, a Croatian philosopher and co-founder of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 pan-European progressive political party,
said that "this would be the best decision Biden ever made."
British journalist Afshin Rattansi
asked, "Why has Julian Assange been put through this ordeal in the first place?"
Assange—who is 52 years old and suffers from various health problems—faces multiple U.S. charges under the Espionage Act and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for his role in publishing classified government documents, some of them revealing war crimes and other misdeeds. Among the files published by WikiLeaks are the "Collateral Murder" video—which shows a U.S. Army helicopter crew killing a group of Iraqi civilians—the Afghan and Iraq war logs.
Three U.S. administrations have pursued charges against Assange. During the administration of former President Donald Trump—who is the presumptive 2024 Republican nominee—officials including then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo allegedly plotted to assassinate Assange to avenge WikiLeaks' publication of the "Vault 7" documents exposing CIA electronic warfare and surveillance activities. In 2010, Trump called for Assange's execution.
The U.K. High Court ruled last month that Assange could not be immediately extradited to the U.S., where he faces up to 175 years behind bars if convicted on all counts. The tribunal gave the Biden administration until April 16 to guarantee that Assange won't face the death penalty. Absent such assurance, Assange will be allowed to continue appealing his extradition.
Last month, Assange's legal team denied reports that a plea deal with the U.S. government may have been in the works.
Assange has been imprisoned in Belmarsh since 2019. Before that, he spent nearly seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had been granted political asylum under the government of leftist former President Rafael Correa.
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
found in 2016 that Assange had been arbitrarily deprived of his freedom since his first arrest on December 7, 2010. In 2019, Nils Melzer, then the U.N.'s special rapporteur on torture, said Assange had been subjected to "psychological torture."
Following the High Court's decision last month, Amnesty International legal adviser Simon Crowther said that "the U.S. must stop its politically motivated prosecution of Assange, which puts Assange and media freedom at risk worldwide."
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