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The US assures a UK judge that Assange’s extradition is imminent
A further appeal against being extradited to face eighteen accusations—all but one under the Espionage Act—was permitted by the High Court last month, pending the US providing assurances. The allegations stemmed from WikiLeaks’ disclosure of secret US military documents and diplomatic cables.
The deadline for submitting those guarantees—that he could pursue his First Amendment right to free expression in a US court and that there was no chance of additional charges leading to the imposition of the death penalty—fell on Tuesday.
According to the memo seen by Reuters, Assange “will have the ability to raise and seek to rely upon the rights and protections given under the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States at trial.” The statement does clarify, though, that US courts are the only ones authorized to decide whether the First Amendment is applicable.
A death sentence will not be requested or carried out, according to the document.
“These assurances are binding on any and all present or subsequent individuals to whom authority has been delegated to decide the matters,” it said.
A new court date is set for May 20 in London; however, his attorneys have already said that US guarantees offered in earlier cases were “not worth the paper they’re written on,” a remark that is in line with the criticisms made by Amnesty International, a human rights organization.
“Ultimate anguish”
Stella, Assange’s wife, whom he wed while incarcerated in London, expressed her dissatisfaction with the assurances, calling them “blatant weasel words.”
She released a statement saying, “The United States has issued a non-assurance in relation to the First Amendment and a standard assurance concerning the death penalty.”
“The diplomatic note does nothing to relieve our family’s extreme distress about his future — his grim expectation of spending the rest of his life in isolation in US prison for publishing award-winning journalism.”
Neither the US Department of Justice nor a spokesman for the High Court responded right away.
Assange’s US attorney called US President Joe Biden’s statement last week that he was reviewing Australia’s request to drop the prosecution “encouraging.”
Although it was unclear what impact, if any, Biden could have on a criminal case, the Wall Street Journal has revealed that talks on a possible plea bargaining agreement are in progress.
Since his initial arrest in November 2010, Assange, an Australian citizen, has been involved in several legal fights in English courts for almost 13 years.
For his numerous fans, he is an anti-establishment hero facing persecution for disclosing US misconduct and information about purported war crimes hidden in top-secret, classified papers.
The US government contends that he is being tried for his illegal conspiracy to obtain the leaked materials—rather than for publishing the materials himself with former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
Assange‘s wife declared, “The Biden administration must drop this dangerous prosecution before it is too late.”
