Permission To Appeal Against US Extradition For Julian Assange Denied

Fifty years Assange is wanted in America over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information following WikiLeaks’ publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

The US authorities brought a High Court challenge against a January 2021 ruling by then-district judge Vanessa Baraitser that Assange should not be sent to the US, in which she cited a real and “oppressive” risk of suicide. 

After a two-day hearing, the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett, sitting with Lord Justice Holroyde, ruled in favour of the US last year. 

The senior judges found that Judge Baraitser had based her decision on the risk of Assange being held in highly restrictive prison conditions if extradited.

Julian Assange has been denied permission to appeal against the High Court’s decision in December 2021 to extradite him to the United States, the Supreme Court has confirmed. 

On Monday, the UK’s highest court said that senior judges had refused Assange’s bid to challenge the decision as his application did not raise “an arguable point of law”. 

In a statement, his lawyers Birnberg Peirce Solicitors said they regretted that the court would not consider “the troubling circumstances” by which governments requesting extradition can add terms to the extradition post-hearing. 

However, Assange’s legal team previously said there were other parts of his appeal that had not yet been heard by the High Court. 

The statement continued: “No appeal to the High Court has yet been filed by him in respect of the other important issues he raised previously … That separate process of appeal has, of course, has yet to be initiated.”

However, the US authorities later gave assurances that Assange would not face those strictest measures either pre-trial or post-conviction unless he committed an act in the future that required them. 

Lord Burnett previously said that if the original judge had been given those assurances at the time of her ruling, “she would have answered the relevant question differently”.

The WikiLeaks founder’s lawyers had sought to appeal against that decision at the Supreme Court, arguing it raises “serious and important” legal issues. 

Following the Supreme Court’s decision, the case is now expected to be formally sent to Home Secretary Priti Patel for approval. 

In January, Lord Burnett, sitting with Lord Justice Holroyde, refused permission for the appeal, adding that the decision of whether to hear the appeal was up to the Supreme Court. 

In her January 2021 ruling blocking the extradition, Judge Baraitser found in favour of the US on all issues except Assange’s mental health. 

Assange has previously indicated that he wants to challenge the original judge’s other findings. 

The decision comes after the WikiLeaks founder’s fiancee Stella Moris announced on Sunday that the pair will marry in Belmarsh Prison in south-east London on March 23 – weeks before the third anniversary of his dramatic arrest when he was dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy in the capital.