The Judges Who Freed Julian Assange

Julian Assange, the Australian publisher and founder of WikiLeaks, was the whistleblower for many top stories including those leaked to him by Bradley/Chelsea Manning about the US murder of civilians in Iraq. The prosecution of Assange and other whistleblowers is a classic case of “Shoot the Messenger” rather than addressing the serious issues they raise.

A timeline of the legal case involving WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange shows that Assange’s situation seemed hopeless until March 2024 when his lawyers appealed to the United Kingdom’s High Court. It looked like Assange would be extradited to the US where he faced 175 years in a maximum security prison. His wife Stella warned that Assange might commit suicide.

The article includes the following timeline:

May 2019: The U.S. government indicts Assange on 18 charges over WikiLeaks’ publication of classified documents. Prosecutors say he conspired with U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into a Pentagon computer and release secret diplomatic cables and military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

January 2021: A British judge rules Assange cannot be extradited to the U.S. because he is likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions.

July 2021: The High Court grants the U.S. government permission to appeal the lower court’s ruling blocking Assange’s extradition.

December 2021: The High Court rules that U.S. assurances about Assange’s detention are enough to guarantee he would be treated humanely.

March 2022: Britain’s Supreme Court refuses to grant Assange permission to appeal against his extradition.

June 2022: Britain’s government orders the extradition of Assange to the United States. Assange appeals.

May 2023: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Assange should be released and “nothing is served” by his ongoing incarceration.

June 2023: A High Court judge rules Assange cannot appeal his extradition.

Feb. 20, 2024: Assange’s lawyers launch a final legal bid to stop his extradition at the High Court.

March 26, 2024: Two High Court judges in London give U.S. authorities three more weeks to submit further assurances, including a guarantee that Assange won’t get the death penalty, before deciding whether they will grant him a new appeal against his extradition.

May 20, 2024: The two High Court judges rule that Assange can mount a new appeal based on arguments about whether he will receive free-speech protections or be at a disadvantage because he is not a U.S. citizen.

[In May, when UK High Court judges Dame Victoria Sharp and Justice Jeremy Johnson ruled that Assange could appeal, including on First Amendment grounds, that put more pressure on the US to come up with a deal.]

June 26, 2024: Assange pleads guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defense information. The judge in the U.S. commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands sentences him to time served in the British prison and pronounces him a “free man.”

The article points out:

The drawn-out legal case involving WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has concluded with his guilty plea to obtaining and publishing U.S. military secrets. In a deal with the U.S. Justice Department, Assange was sentenced Wednesday to the five years he’d served in a British prison while fighting extradition. It allows him to walk free and resolves the case that centered on the publication of a trove of classified documents…..

Australia’s Role in Freeing Julian Assange explains:

As recently as last July, U.S. officials appeared determined to prosecute Assange. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that month Australia needed to understand U.S. concerns. However, a month later, U.S. Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy said a deal was possible.

After the cross-party delegation of Australian politicians travelled to Washington in September to speak to Republican and Democrat lawmakers about the Assange case, the Biden administration appeared to be softening its response. Joe Biden said in April, “We are considering it,” when asked by media about Australia’s request to end Assange’s prosecution. But it was the London High Court’s decision in May to allow Assange to appeal against his extradition that triggered the breakthrough in negotiations over a plea deal according to his wife Stella.

British Judges to Rule on US Extradition of WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange reported on 2/22/24:

British judges are set to rule whether Julian Assange, the founder of the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks, will be extradited to the United States after he launched a last-ditch legal bid this week to block the order, the latest chapter in a legal battle stretching back nearly 14 years. U.S. prosecutors are seeking Assange’s extradition in relation to 18 federal charges relating to allegations of hacking and theft of classified material, after Wikileaks published a trove of stolen U.S. diplomatic cables and military documents in 2010 relating to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Reserved judgement

The two-day hearing at the High Court in London concluded Wednesday and the two senior judges hearing the case are expected to deliver a ruling in the coming days or weeks. “We will reserve our decision,” judge Victoria Sharp said. It is unclear when she and fellow judge Jeremy Johnson will issue their decision.

The Real Problem with Julian Assange is one of the best summarizes of Assange’s case. Judges at the United Kingdom’s High Court heard the case at the end of February, but delayed their ruling at least until March 4. If the decision went against Assange, his wife said they would appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. However, that may have meant many more years for Assange in the prison where he was confined to his cell 23 hours per day.

Basis of High Court Ruling

The 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in USAID v. Alliance for Open Society International Inc. says a non-U.S. citizen acting outside the U.S. has no constitutional protections. So, the denial of Assange’s rights in an American courtroom would go beyond the First Amendment to all of his U.S. constitutional rights. Therefore, the United States was unable to provide assurances that the European equivalent of Assange’s constitutional rights would be protected which is required under British extradition law.

Justice Victoria Sharp and Justice Jeremy Johnson granted Assange the right to appeal on two of nine requested grounds:

As a non-American, Assange might not be given 1st Amendment protection in the US
Assange’s extradition was therefore incompatible with his free speech rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights

Small Victory in the Assange Case: Permission to Appeal Extradition 5/21/24

During a two-hour permission to appeal hearing on Monday May 20 at the Royal Courts of Justice, Judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson listened to arguments presented by both the Crown Prosecution Service and the defense. The judges also took into consideration both parties written submissions. Shortly after the hearing concluded, The High Court issued its decision in favor of Mr. Assange, thus permitting him to appeal the extradition order on two technical grounds.

Assange supporters and Wikileaks editor in chief celebrate court ruling on extradition order 5/25/24

Britain’s First Female Lord Chief Justice

The lead judge in Assange’s extradition case at the High Court was Dame Victoria Sharp, president of the King’s Bench Division who was appointed in 2019 by then prime minister Theresa May.

UK to get 1st ever female Lord Chief Justice in 755 years, Know about candidates 6/11/23