UK appeal court reverses decision to not extradite WikiLeaks founder

The US won, Friday, an appeal case against a decision that blocks the extradition of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, Anadolu News Agency reports.

London’s High Court of Justice overturned a Lower Court decision made in January that Assange cannot be extradited due to concerns over his mental health.

In the ruling, the court said it “was satisfied” that the assurances made by the US were “sufficient to meet the concerns” and so “allowed the appeal.”

The case will go back to a Lower Court, Westminster Magistrates’ Court, for a new decision. The losing party has a right to a final appeal to the UK’s Supreme Court.

Responding to the decision, Assange’s fiancée, Stella Moris, said in a statement: “We will appeal this decision at the earliest possible moment.”

Moris called the High Court’s ruling “dangerous and misguided” and “a grave miscarriage of justice.”

READ: US appeal case starts for extradition of WikiLeaks co-founder

“How can it be fair, how can it be right, how can it be possible, to extradite Julian to the very country which plotted to kill him?” she added.

Assange’s solicitors, Birnberg Peirce, also said in a statement that they will be seeking leave to appeal the High Court’s decision to the Supreme Court.

Should he be extradited to the US, Assange would face one count of hacking US government computers and 17 other counts of violating the Espionage Act. The charges come with a potential prison sentence of 175 years.

The US accuses Assange of espionage after WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of pages of secret government documents, including diplomatic cables and military records. Most notably, WikiLeaks released classified video recordings of a 2007 US helicopter attack in Iraq that killed a dozen civilians, including two Reuters staffers.

Assange was dragged out of the Ecuador Embassy in London in 2019, where he took refuge for more than seven years. British police said he was arrested for skipping bail in 2012.

He was found guilty of breaking the terms of his bail in 2012 after failing to surrender to security services by the Westminster Magistrates’ Court and given a 50-week prison term, which he dodged by fleeing to Ecuador’s diplomatic building.