Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has been granted the right to appeal against his extradition to the United States by a London court on Monday. Assange, currently held in London’s Belmarsh Prison since his 2019 arrest, faces 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse related to the publication of classified U.S. documents by WikiLeaks almost 15 years ago.
Assange’s lawyers argued that the United States provided insufficient assurances that the whistleblower would have free press protections if extradited to America to face espionage charges. Edward Fitzgerald, Assange’s lawyer, stated that prosecutors had failed to guarantee Assange’s reliance on press protections under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Fitzgerald emphasized the need for adequate assurance to address the real risk identified by the court.
Assange’s legal team maintains that he is a journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. They argue that extraditing him to the U.S. would subject him to politically motivated prosecution and a potential denial of justice. WikiLeaks, founded by Assange in 2006, serves as a platform for whistleblowers to anonymously leak sensitive documents. The website gained international attention in 2010 for publishing a trove of classified US military and diplomatic documents provided by former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
The U.S. government claims that Assange’s actions exceeded traditional journalism and directly harmed national security. They assert that publishing unredacted documents with informants’ names and other sensitive information endangered individuals and national interests. However, Assange’s supporters contend that he acted as a journalist, publishing information in the public interest. They believe that prosecuting Assange under the Espionage Act sets a dangerous precedent for press freedom, potentially criminalizing investigative journalism that exposes government misconduct.
