(20 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
London – 20 May 2024
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Kristinn Hrafnsson, Wikileaks editor-in-chief:
"Julian Assange has now the right to appeal" UPSOUND Cheering
ASSOCIATED PRESS
London, UK – 20 May 2024
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Brian Melley, The Associated Press:
"London’s High Court today says that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has the right to appeal his extradition order to the U.S. on espionage charges. Assange faces 18 counts in U.S. court, mostly espionage charges related to Wikileaks’ release of hundreds of thousands of documents, mostly classified U.S. information that they say exposed military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. In March, the court ruled provisionally that Assange could bring an appeal unless the U.S. could offer assurances that he could use he could rely on the First Amendment at trial, and that the U.S. would not seek the death penalty. The U.S. provided those assurances. Assange’s lawyers accepted the assurance that they would not seek the death penalty, but they said the assurance over the First Amendment was blatantly inadequate. This is a big win for Assange. He’s been trying to seek an appeal for years. This case has dragged on for many years and with today’s ruling, it is likely to go on several more months until we find out whether Assange will ultimately be extradited to the U.S. or not. There’s also an outside chance that the U.S. could drop the charges. President Joe Biden has said that he was considering that after the Australian government reached out to him."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: London – 19 May 2017
3. Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder, raising fist on balcony of Ecuador embassy
POOL
ARCHIVE: London – 16 December 2010
++NIGHT SHOTS++
4. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange walking out of court after being granted bail
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: London – 2 November 2011
5. Assange walking, surrounded by media and supporters, after leaving court after losing his appeal against extradition to Sweden to answer sex crime allegations
ASSOCIATED PRESS
London – 20 May 2024
6. Various of Assange’s supporters in front of court
STORYLINE:
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can appeal against extradition to the United States on espionage charges, a London court ruled on Monday — a decision that is likely to drag out further what has already been a long legal saga.
High Court judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson ruled for Assange after his lawyers argued that the U.S. government provided “blatantly inadequate” assurances that he would have the same free speech protections as an American citizen if extradited from Britain.
Assange, 52, has been indicted on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over his website’s publication of a trove of classified U.S. documents almost 15 years ago.
Associated Press journalist Brian Melley explains that it is a big win for Assange.
He has spent the last five years in a British high-security prison after taking refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for seven years.
Assange was not in court to hear the ruling because of health reasons, his lawyer said.
American prosecutors allege that Assange encouraged and helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks published.
Assange’s lawyers have argued he was a journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sending him to the U.S., they said, would expose him to a politically motivated prosecution and risk a “flagrant denial of justice.”
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