There are no plans to extradite the man to the US

The U.S. high court refused to extradite Assange, whose emails were leaked by WikiLeaks and alleged terrorist attack in Baghdad

In a ruling issued in London on Tuesday, two high court judges said that Assange will not be immediately extradited to the United States. In a press summary of the 60-page decision, the court said Assange has a “real prospect of success” in appealing his extradition order and that it requires the US and UK to make further “assurances” about his treatment if he were to be extradited.

Specifically, the London judges have asked U.S. authorities to guarantee that Assange will be protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects free speech; that he is not being discriminated against “by reason of his nationality” (Australian), and that the death penalty would not be imposed if he’s found guilty of espionage.

“If those assurances are not given, then leave to appeal will be given and there will then be an appeal hearing,” according to a summary of the judgment published on the U.K. judiciary’s website.

“He is not an American.” The man was working in London. It is concerning that the U.S. government can go after people in this way and that the U.K. would allow it.

The website proclaims itself a library and multimedia organization that publishes restricted and censored official material about war, espionage and corruption.

It has had its share of controversy. The platform put people’s lives at risk by publishing classified documents about U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There were reports in 2016 that the US had evidence that Russia was distributing hacked Hillary Clinton emails to WikiLeaks.

This case dates back to WikiLeaks’ publication in 2010 of hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. government documents related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The trove included a now-infamous, then-classified video of a 2007 U.S. helicopter attack in Baghdad, which killed about a dozen people — including two Reuters journalists.

The U.S. Army intelligence analyst who leaked those files, Chelsea Manning, served seven years in prison and was released by then-President Barack Obama.

But, neither was he pardoned. Instead, a U.S. grand jury indicted him in 2019 on 17 espionage charges and one count of computer misuse. His lawyers say he faces up to 175 years behind bars if convicted.

That was what he was arrested for. The two women accused him of rape and sexual assault in Sweden and he was arrested in London.

In a recent interview with NPR, Assange’s wife stated that she fears for his physical and mental health as a result of being put in solitary confinement.

She said, “I find this quite amazing.” “Julian is a political prisoner. He is a journalist, and he is being persecuted because he exposed the true cost of war, in human lives.” She was apparently referring to WikiLeaks’ publication of the Iraq and Afghanistan war files.

Defense lawyers say the case against Assange is politically motivated. It’s not possible for the US government to give him a fair trial since he shamed them with the war leaks.

Press freedom groups say that if Assange is found guilty under the U.S. Espionage Act, it would set a dangerous precedent for journalists to be criminally charged for publishing leaked documents — even if it’s in the public interest.

“It sends a signal that a powerful government can go after a journalist in any part of the world and extradite them there and try them under a law that was never meant to be used for journalistic practices,” Reporters Without Borders’ director of international campaigns, Rebecca Vincent, told NPR.

Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said Tuesday’s ruling shows the U.S. government should drop the Espionage Act charges against Assange.

A US indictment alleges that the founder of WikiLeaks is involved in a conspiracy to commit computer crimes and violate Espionage Act for soliciting and publishing classified information about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.