The London High Court has given WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange the opportunity to appeal to the UK Supreme Court against an earlier decision to extradite him to the US.

Chief Justice of England and Wales

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Barnett and appellate judge Timothy Holroyd agreed to take the case to the Supreme Court based on one of the points of the petition filed by the defense.

Their decision notes that the US authorities only at the last moment provided guarantees on the conditions of Assange's detention, on the basis of which he could be extradited to America.

Now, Assange's lawyers will have 14 days to file a petition with the Supreme Court to appeal the earlier decision of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.

At the same time, the British media note that the High Court only provided an opportunity to appeal, which does not guarantee that the Supreme Court will hear it.

In addition, Assange will continue to be held in Belmarsh High Security Prison while the appeal is pending.

Despite this, Assange's fiancée, lawyer Stella Morris, called the court's decision a victory for the defense.

“Now the Supreme Court must decide whether it will consider the appeal.

But you can rest assured that today we have won in court... But with every victory, let's not forget that until this case is dismissed, until Julian is released, he continues to suffer.

He spent almost three years in Belmarsh prison, he suffers greatly.

Julian must be released.

We hope this ends soon,” Morris said.

WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson noted in a RT comment that the appeal could drag on for several more months.

“He has been held in Belmarsh prison for more than a thousand days.

It's just unthinkable.

He will have to spend at least a few more months there.

It could be months before the Supreme Court decides whether or not to hear the case.

Again, only a partial victory has been won, but this is far from the end, ”said Hrafnsson.

Warranties and Appeals

Recall that in early January 2021, the Westminster Magistrates Court initially refused to extradite Assange to the United States due to his depressed psychological state.

Thus, the court took the side of the defense, which expressed fear that the journalist might commit suicide, and the US authorities were not able to provide guarantees for his safety.

In response, the US Department of Justice, which is seeking the extradition of the founder of WikiLeaks, in October provided the High Court with a package of guarantees that was supposed to address the concerns expressed in the decision of the Westminster Court.

  • Rally in defense of Julian Assange

  • © AP Photo/David Cliff

The United States, in particular, guaranteed that Assange would allegedly not be placed in the maximum security prison (ADX) Florence in Colorado.

In addition, the American side promised that in the event of a guilty verdict, Assange could be repatriated to his homeland, to Australia, and serve his term there.

After providing these guarantees, in December 2021, the Court of Appeal for England and Wales granted the appeal of the US Department of Justice against the refusal to extradite Assange.

Kristinn Hrafnsson, in a RT commentary, called this situation absurd.

“The fact that after the defeat of the United States in a lower court, so-called guarantees were accepted from them - absurd in their essence - guarantees ... all this is generally absurd.

It is also absurd that during the appeal process they are allowed to somehow correct their position.

They had every opportunity to present all this in the magistrates' court, which they did not.

And only after their defeat did they come up with so-called guarantees, which, according to Amnesty International and other organizations, are completely insufficient and worth nothing at all,” Hrafnsson stressed.

Decade of Persecution

Recall that Washington began the persecution of Assange in 2010, when hundreds of thousands of documents concerning the actions of the US army in the Middle East were published on the WikiLeaks portal.

At the time, Assange was in Sweden awaiting a work permit, but left the Scandinavian country due to the refusal and allegations of sexual harassment against him.

In 2012, the journalist lived in the UK.

Fearing that the British authorities would extradite him to Sweden, from where he would be extradited to the United States, Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he asked for political asylum.

He spent seven years in the diplomatic mission building.

  • Julian Assange speaking at the Ecuadorian embassy

  • globallookpress.com

  • © Thomas Campean/ZUMAPRESS.com

Despite the isolation of Assange, the WikiLeaks portal continued to publish secret materials of the American intelligence services.

In April 2019, the then President of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, announced that he was refusing to grant political asylum to a journalist and depriving him of his Ecuadorian citizenship.

British policemen were allowed into the territory of the diplomatic mission and arrested the founder of WikiLeaks for failing to appear in court in 2012 for a hearing on charges brought by the Swedish prosecutor's office.

If Assange is extradited to the United States and found guilty, he could face up to 175 years in prison on 18 counts of charges against him.

Konstantin Blokhin, a researcher at the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, expressed the opinion that now British justice is trying to demonstrate its humanity and impartiality, but later it will still extradite Assange to the United States.

“This is all done to make the court look legitimate in the eyes of the international community.

Everyone is well aware that the United States is persecuting Assange for political reasons.

It has done enormous damage to the image of the United States.

Before Assange, many perceived the United States as a shining city on a hill that brings democracy, and Assange showed the wrong side of this “democracy”, demonstrated to the whole world how they were interrogated at Guantanamo Bay, how people were killed in Afghanistan, how entire families could be shot by mistake, ”emphasized RT interlocutor.

In turn, Americanist political scientist Malek Dudakov noted that the guarantees of the American side in this matter cannot be trusted.

“The Americans can do anything with him, no matter what guarantees they give.

It can be expected that upon arrival in the United States, he will die in prison under mysterious circumstances.

One can only hope that the UK Supreme Court decides to satisfy his appeal in order to prevent an act of revenge from the American establishment from happening, ”the expert said.

At the same time, apparently, the British courts of various instances are trying to shift responsibility for the extremely unpopular decision, which will be the possible extradition of Assange, to each other, Dudakov added.

“It's about keeping the reputation.

The very imprisonment of Assange in Belmarsh prison is already hitting hard on the country's reputation.

If he is extradited to the US, where he suddenly dies in prison or something else happens, it will become an indelible stain on the UK's reputation.

Therefore, now British justice has to maneuver between the interests of the United States, public opinion and human rights activists who advocate an end to the persecution of Assange, ”concluded the political scientist.