WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange wins permission to appeal U.S. extradition

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00 Now to London, where there has been a huge boost for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

00:04 in his battle to avoid extradition to the United States.

00:08 London's High Court has just ruled that US assurances over his case were unsatisfactory

00:13 and that he would get a full appeal hearing.

00:15 We're going to talk more about this with Bénédicte Paviot, who joins me now live from London.

00:20 Bénédicte, what more do we know about this decision?

00:22 Well, we expected a ruling today.

00:27 You can hear the cheers of the supporters.

00:29 They're waiting for Stella Assange, his wife, to come out and his defence team.

00:33 But judges Victoria Sharpe and Justice Johnson have indeed ruled.

00:38 And the ruling is that the WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange can bring a new appeal against

00:45 extradition to the United States.

00:47 That is the High Court ruling, which is very, very significant.

00:52 The judges have granted leave to appeal on grounds four and five.

00:56 And they relate to the First Amendment protections in the US and freedom of expression.

01:03 The other grounds related to the death penalty, that was rejected.

01:07 So Stella Assange will be holding a press conference in the next hour or so here in

01:12 central London.

01:13 This is a very clear victory for Julian Assange, who has got this new possibility now in the

01:21 British judicial system to have what he had asked for and his defence team wanted, which

01:27 was in legal terms called a permission to appeal.

01:31 So that is a full hearing on the grounds that I just gave.

01:35 And you can hear the elation from the crowd here.

01:39 There have been politicians, there have been representatives from not just the National

01:44 Union of Journalists here in the United Kingdom, but the International Federation of Journalists.

01:49 Also you've got reporters without borders.

01:52 So very many different bodies watching this ruling very carefully.

01:56 That means Julian Assange, who is in Belmarsh prison and has been there for five years and

02:01 before that in the Ecuadorian embassy, gets to continue his appeal to not be extradited

02:07 to the United States.

02:08 And Benedikt, just for people who have not been covering the story as closely as you

02:12 have for the past decade, if not more, just talk us through what this long legal battle

02:18 has been like for him.

02:20 Well, it's taken physically and mentally a huge toll on him.

02:26 We know, and that was ruled some time ago by a British, another British judge that was

02:31 at another court, the Old Bailey, that he is a suicidarist.

02:35 So it's taken a mental toll.

02:37 It's taken a toll on his family, his wife, his former lawyer Stella Assange.

02:41 They have two small children.

02:43 But what has effectively happened is that when there was a publication, unprecedented

02:48 in the world, of hundreds of thousands of confidential top military US cables revealing

02:56 all kinds of information, particularly purporting to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, this was

03:03 therefore could be seen by anybody.

03:04 And the US administration was absolutely furious because they said that this was really endangering

03:11 the lives of their informants and people who had helped them.

03:14 This was categorically denied by Julian Assange, who said that the demands by the US for extradition

03:21 was politically motivated, that he was defending his work as a publisher, his work as a journalist.

03:28 And that is why also this ruling has been so closely followed by not just people here

03:34 in the UK, not just by journalists or politicians here in the UK, but across the world for that

03:40 universality of the US being able to reach across the world and get somebody, an Australian,

03:47 a 52-year-old Australian, basically to try and get him over for espionage offences and

03:55 17 other offences.

03:57 And his defence team say risk 175 years in prison.

04:02 And the big worry for them was that would he get a fair trial?

04:07 Clearly the British judges have decided that the grounds on which his defence team has

04:13 now successfully appealed need to be heard in a British court.

04:16 So this could go, this will be examined at a later date.

04:19 I think that both parties have until the 24th of May to make their submissions.

04:24 Benedict thank you for that.

04:25 France 24's Benedict Paviot.

04:26 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Recommended