Julian Assange launches bid to appeal against extradition to United States

WikiLeaks' 50-year-old founder Julian Assange has appealed to Britain's appellate Court’s verdict in the Supreme court, several reports confirmed on Thursday, Dec. 23. The high court had ruled earlier this month that Assange could be extradited to the United States. The former was ordered to be handed to the US authorities over criminal charges of ‘espionage’ as he faces 18 counts related to his media company WikiLeaks' release of vast troves of confidential, sensitive, and unclassified US Army records and data on military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which the US argues has caused national security concerns. 

‘Assurances’ by Washington behind verdict 

On Dec. 10, Washington won an appeal over Assange’s extradition in London's High Court. A judge ruled against the Lower court verdict over ‘assurances’ given by Washington about the media mogul’s safety as he is suicidal and suffers from mental health deterioration. Assange, held at the high-security Belmarsh Prison in the UK, had also suffered a stroke resulting in drooping right eyelid, memory lapse, and other neurological damages as he battled to avoid being extradited to the US. Washington pledged not to hold the WikiLeaks founder in a so-called "ADX" maximum-security prison in Colorado, UK’s final court of appeal stated, adding that the latter will be transferred to Australia to serve the sentence. 

Assange has been struggling with stress, UK’s leading news outlets quoted his fiancee Stella Moris as saying. She further informed that Julian Assange had been on anti-stroke medication, and had an MRI scan while held in the prison as his health had been on the decline. Stella Moris, earlier yesterday said the Court's ruling about Assange’s extradition raises questions on procedural and human rights safeguards.

"Under English law, in order for the application to have a chance to be considered by the Supreme Court, first the same High Court judges who ordered Julian Assange's extradition must certify that at least one of the Supreme Court appeal grounds is a point of law of general public importance," she said in a statement accessed by the ABC news. She then stressed that an application for leave to appeal was under consideration by the High Court judges.

The Australian parliamentarians have also been insisting that Prime Minister Scott Morrison must intervene in the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's case as he is an Australian citizen. The latter has been confined in the UK prison since 2019 after he was arrested for violating his bail conditions. The UK court now believes that the risk of Assange committing suicide was minimized by guarantees from American authorities, and if extradited, Assange will not be held in a restrictive jail. Assange’s lawyers had earlier asserted that they would appeal the ruling.