Julian Assange has lost his appeal against extradition to the US over espionage charges.
The verdict was delivered privately in the High Court on Monday.
WikiLeaks founder Assange, 51, launched the appeal last June after then Home Secretary Priti Patel signed an order authorizing his ouster.
Yesterday his wife Stella said he will appeal the decision. It will be Assange’s last chance to overturn the sentence before his options in the UK courts are exhausted.
The Freedom of the Press Foundation said it was “deeply disappointed by the UK Supreme Court’s rejection of Julian Assange’s appeal against his extradition to the United States on espionage law charges.”
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, 51, launched the appeal last June after then Home Secretary Priti Patel signed an order authorizing his ouster
Stella Assange, wife of jailed journalist and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, speaks during the Free Assange Quad Rally in Sydney, Australia last month
Advocacy Director Seth Stern said: “The idea of Assange or anyone else being charged in a US court with obtaining and publishing confidential documents in the same way that investigative reporters do every day should terrify all Americans.”
“If (President Joe) Biden allows this case to proceed, future administrations will certainly use the Assange prosecution precedent and the unconstitutional power to criminalize news gathering that Biden claims to crack down on journalists they dislike.”
“It’s time Biden dropped this case and showed the world he’s serious about press freedom.”
There is still a possibility that his extradition could be blocked by short-term intervention by judges in Europe.
In December, Assange appealed to the European Court of Human Rights.
To stop his extradition now, the European Court of Justice would have to issue an injunction known as a Rule 39 injunction.
This allows a judge to effectively block any lawsuit until another court hearing decides the merits of a case.
These so-called “temporary measures” are typically used to stay extradition, often by asylum seekers who fear persecution if returned to their home country.
Between 2020 and 2022, the ECtHR granted 12 out of 161 requests for “interim measures” against the UK government.
Most recently, the order was used to stop the deportation of illegal migrants to Rwanda.
Such an order would be highly controversial and would likely be seen as yet another attack on British sovereignty, fueling calls for Britain to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights.
Protesters wave banners during the Free Julian Assange Quad Rally May 24 in Sydney, Australia
Julian Assange’s supporters recently demonstrated in Hyde Park in Sydney demanding his release
Meanwhile, Home Office officials are preparing the paperwork needed for a last-minute extradition of Assange.
Barring any further legal challenges, his extradition could take place in the next few weeks.
The case is considered one of the longest extradition fights of the last decade.
In 2019, he was indicted by US authorities over nearly 500,000 leaked documents related to the 2010 and 2011 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
If convicted in the US, Mr Assange faces a possible sentence of up to 175 years in prison, his lawyers said.
However, the US government said the sentence would be closer to four to six years.
In a protracted legal battle, a district judge at Westminster Magistrates Court initially blocked his extradition in January 2021 on the basis of a real and “pressing” threat of suicide.
However, that decision was overturned by the Supreme Court after US authorities gave assurances that Mr Assange would be spared severely restricted prison conditions.
Assange’s lawyer, Birnberg Peirce, said yesterday that no one could be reached for comment on the ongoing case.
Assange’s wife, human rights lawyer Stella, tweeted: “On Tuesday next week my husband will be making a new appeal to the Supreme Court.”
“The matter will then move to a public hearing before two new Supreme Court Justices and we remain optimistic that we will prevail and Julian will not be extradited to the United States where he will face charges that could see him serving the rest of his life.” his life in a maximum security prison for publishing true information exposing war crimes committed by the US government.”