UK judges delay Julian Assange extradition appeal decision

Julian Assange’s wait to discover whether he can appeal his extradition lingers on after London judges delayed their decision, asking the U.S. to give assurances over his right to use freedom of speech as a defense against criminal espionage charges.

Two London judges ruled Tuesday that Assange can appeal the UK’s decision to extradite him if the U.S. does not give “satisfactory assurances” to the court over his First Amendment rights given he is an Australian national. They include that he must not prejudiced at trial, is afforded the same protections as U.S. citizens and the death penalty is not imposed.

“If those assurances are not given, then leave to appeal will be given and there will then be an appeal hearing,” the judges said in a summary of the judgment. A further hearing will take place on May 20 where judges will hear any more arguments over the First Amendment.

If the U.S. does not offer assurances, lawyers for Assange will only then get the chance to fully appeal the extradition order. A previous judge initially blocked his extradition over concerns he would kill himself if sent to a high security prison.

Assange is charged with criminal espionage for leaking classified documents. His lawyers argue that sending him to the U.S. would breach his human rights while other supporters say it would be an attack on free speech.

The 52-years-old has been in prison or in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012, as he fought attempts to send him to face criminal charges first in Sweden and then in the U.S. The Swedish case against him was dropped, but the U.S. government in 2019 charged him under spying laws for his role in releasing hundreds of thousands of pages of classified documents via WikiLeaks, with the help of U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.

The Department of Justice and representatives for Assange didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.