Assange Permitted to Submit Appeal to Supreme Court
The High Court has permitted Julian Assange to submit an appeal to the Supreme Court.
The UK High Court has permitted Julian Assange to submit an appeal to the Supreme Court, after the appellate court okayed his extradition to the United States in December.
The decision was delivered this morning at the Royal Courts of Justice in London by LCJ Ian Burnett and LJ Timothy Holroyde, the same judges who overturned an earlier UK district court judge’s decision not to extradite Julian Assange to the United States back in December.
The Australian journalist and WikiLeaks founder faces up to 175 years in prison for publishing classified documents which reveal US war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan, and more.
Assange asked the High Court judges to certify three points of law of general public importance in order to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The High Court refused Assange leave to appeal, which is not unusual, however it did certify at least one point of law, clearing the way for him to ask the Supreme Court to hear his case.
The High Court certified just one point of law, regarding whether it was correct for the appeals court to receive assurances from the requesting state (the United States) which hadn't been provided before i.e. during the extradition hearing.
The pronouncement reads: “2. The point of law certified is: in what circumstances can an appellate court receive assurances from a requesting state which were not before the court of first instance in extradition proceedings.”
It is on this basis that Assange can make an application to the Supreme Court within the next 14 days to hear his appeal. It is then up to the Supreme Court to decide whether it will hear Assange's appeal.
Your coverage has been amazing but the process of slow death by process is a ghastly spectacle and truly dystopian idea of fundamental law, presumed innocence & right to a speedy trial judged by a jury after a trial of peers.