UK delays Assange extradition pending US assurances

By Karla Adam and Salvador Rizzo
Updated March 26, 2024 at 10:09 a.m. EDT
Published March 26, 2024 at 6:46 a.m. EDT

LONDON — A British court ruled Tuesday that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will not be extradited immediately to the United States to face hacking and espionage charges and that U.S. officials must first provide assurances to British authorities that he would be able to rely on free-speech protections and not incur the death penalty in a U.S. trial.

The U.K. High Court in London gave U.S. officials three weeks to provide the assurances and said Assange would be able to appeal his extradition if those promises were not forthcoming. A decision on whether Assange will be granted a full appeal hearing has been pushed back to May 20, provided the United States grants the assurances. Assange is expected to remain for now in London’s Belmarsh prison, where he has been held since 2019.

Legal experts expressed doubt that the United States would have much trouble providing the necessary assurances of not using the death penalty — which isn’t even merited for the charges — and ensuring free-speech protections ...

The WikiLeaks founder would face a maximum sentence of decades in prison if convicted of all charges. The 18-count indictment does not include allegations that Assange published Democratic officials’ emails that were hacked as part of a Russian campaign to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/26/julian-assange-uk-court-extradition/