Assange denied US extradition appeal

LONDON－Britain's Supreme Court on Monday refused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange permission to appeal against a High Court decision to extradite him to the United States to face espionage charges.

A Supreme Court spokesperson said the appeal "did not raise an arguable point of law".

Washington wants to put the WikiLeaks founder on trial in connection to the publication of 500,000 secret military files relating to the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The ruling brings the long-running legal saga in the UK courts closer to a conclusion, unless Assange's lawyers launch a challenge on a separate point in the case, reported Agence France-Presse.

In January last year, the 50-year-old Australian appeared to have won a reprieve on the grounds he was a suicide risk if he was kept in solitary confinement at a maximum security US facility.

But the US government appealed. At a two-day appeal hearing in October, its lawyers pointed to diplomatic assurances that Assange would not be held in punishing isolation at a federal supermax prison and would receive appropriate care.

Approving that appeal, two judges accepted the new assurances, noting they were not unusual in such cases and "solemn undertakings offered by one government to another".

Assange appealed that ruling and two judges allowed him to apply to the country's highest court in January on "points of law of general public importance".

But a spokeswoman for the court said: "The Supreme Court has refused permission to appeal … as the application didn't raise an arguable point of law."

WikiLeaks wrote on its Twitter account that the case now moves to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel to authorize the extradition.

Assange's legal team said they will make representations to Patel as she considers whether to allow or block the extradition.

They also indicated they could launch further appeals on other points in the case.

"No appeal to the High Court has yet been filed by him in respect of the other important issues he raised previously," said his lawyers Birnberg Peirce Solicitors in a statement. "That separate process of appeal has, of course, yet to be initiated."

Assange has been held in south London's high-security Belmarsh Prison since 2019.

Agencies - Xinhua