London: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange faces a further wait to find out whether he can bring an appeal against his extradition to the US, the British High Court ruled on Tuesday.
According to the ruling, a decision on the appeal has been adjourned to May 20 as the court is seeking assurances from the US, including that Assange could rely on the First Amendment to the US Constitution and that he would not be sentenced to death if convicted, Xinhua news agency reported.
“If those assurances are not given, then leave to appeal will be given and there will then be an appeal hearing,” a summary of the judgment said.
Speaking outside the High Court in London, Assange’s wife Stella Assange said she is “astounded” by the court’s decision to delay her husband’s appeal.
“What the courts have done has been to invite a political intervention from the US,” she said. “I find this astounding.”
Tuesday’s court order is the latest twist in a legal saga which began when Mr Assange’s website Wikileaks published confidential US documents in 2010 and 2011.
His supporters say the leak exposed US criminality but Mr Assange was widely condemned for failing to redact the names of intelligence operatives, potentially putting their lives at risk.
The 52-year-old Australian national attempted to avoid extradition to the US by seeking refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London but was arrested in 2019 and has been held in UK prisons since.
In June 2022, then Home Secretary Priti Patel ruled Mr Assange could be extradited to the US to face trial for 18 offences, a decision which his lawyers have challenged in the courts.
In February, his lawyers submitted nine grounds to the High Court on which they believed Ms Patel’s extradition order was unlawful.
Agencies

KR Desk