The London High Court judge has ruled on Friday in favor of the US government’s appeal to have WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (50) extradited to the United States, overturning a lower court’s decision to block the extradition.
Lord Justice Timothy Holroyde decision to allow the appeal opens the door for Assange’s extradition though his defense attorneys maintain the right to appeal the Court of Appeal’s verdict to the UK’s Supreme Court.
Holroyde’s decision overturned UK district judge Vanessa Baraitser ruling in January to refuse Assange’s extradition citing his fragile mental health and the risk of suicide if sent to a US prison
The US Department of Justice appealed that ruling arguing that judge Baraitser gave no sufficient weight to other expert testimony about Assange’s mental state, assuring at the same time the Court that Assange won’t be held in isolation at some maximal security federal prison but will serve in Australia any prison sentence he receives in a US court.
Stella Moris, Assange’s fiancée and mother of his two children, vowed to appeal as soon as possible Friday’s ruling she called “grave miscarriage of justice.”
Assange’s defenders, who view his prosecution as an attack on press freedom, fear that his persecution might be a test case to show any journalist, dissident, or media organization what happens when the US disagrees or feels threatened by their words or actions.
Among the first to react and express his dissent was WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, Kristinn Hrafnsson, who stressed it’s shameful for the UK to extradite Assange to the nation where top officials had purported plans to kidnap or even assassinate him, referring to the media reports detailing the CIA’s hunt after Assange.
Human rights and press freedom activists have fiercely condemned the ruling, with Trevor Timm of the Freedom of the Press Foundation calling it a black mark on the history of press freedom and a betrayal of the journalistic principles the Biden administration has taken credit for celebrating.
Reporters Without Borders Secretary-General Christophe Deloire blasted the London court’s ruling pointing it’ll prove historic for all the wrong reasons and its dangerous implications for the future of press freedom around the world.
The irony and the biggest symbol of contradiction, according to him, is that High Court’s ruling is announced on UN Human Rights Day, the day when the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to two journalists and when US-led Summit for Democracy is on.
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