Assange’s UK appeal against US extradition to begin on July 9
- American authorities want to put Assange on trial for divulging US military secrets about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s appeal against a UK court ruling that approved his extradition to the United States to face trial for breaking national security laws will begin on July 9, a judicial spokesman said on Tuesday.
Assange, 52, won his bid to challenge the ruling last month, and the two-day hearing will now take place at the High Court in London next month.
The Australian publisher is wanted by Washington for publishing hundreds of thousands of secret US documents from 2010 as head of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.
Had he lost at last month’s hearing, Assange – who has become a figurehead for free speech campaigners – could have been swiftly extradited after a five-year legal battle.
In written submissions for the hearing, lawyer Edward Fitzgerald, representing Assange, accepted as “unambiguous” US government assurances that he would not face the death penalty.
But he queried whether his client could rely on the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which covers freedom of speech and freedom of the press, at trial.
