WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited from UK to US: UK High Court rules
London, Dec 10: Julian Assange can be extradited from the UK to the US, the High Court in London ruled on Friday, overturning a lower court decision that the embattled WikiLeaks founder could not be sent to America to face spying charges due to concerns over his mental health.
The 50-year-old Australian has been charged in the US under the Espionage Act for his role in publishing thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents in 2010 and 2011. US prosecutors say the leaks of classified material endangered lives.
Friday's ruling means the US authorities won their appeal against a January UK court ruling that Assange could not be extradited due to concerns over his mental health after the court was felt reassured by the US promises to reduce the risk of suicide.
Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett and Lord Justice Holroyde handed down the judgment following a hearing in October. Assange's fiancee, Stella Moris, said they intended to appeal against the "grave miscarriage of justice".
In January, District Judge Vanessa Baraitser, presiding over the case at the Old Bailey court in London, ruled that Assange was likely to take his own life if extradited to the US where he is wanted on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over WikiLeaks publication of leaked military and diplomatic documents a decade ago.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.
The High Court judges found that Judge Barrister had based her decision on the risk of Assange being held in highly restrictive prison conditions if extradited. However, the US authorities later gave assurances that he would not face those strictest measures either pre-trial or post-conviction unless he committed an act in the future that required them.
Lord Burnett said: "That risk is in our judgment excluded by the assurances which are offered. It follows that we are satisfied that, if the assurances had been before the judge, she would have answered the relevant question differently.
"That conclusion is sufficient to determine this appeal in the USA's favour."
Lawyers acting for the US also argued Assange's health is well enough for extradition.
Judges ordered the case must return to Westminster Magistrates' Court for a district judge to formally send it to Home Secretary Priti Patel.
Assange's legal team said any appeal to the Supreme Court would relate to the question of assurances, rather than on issues such as free speech or "the political motivation of the US extradition request".
The US had offered four assurances, including that Assange would not be subject to solitary confinement pre or post-trial or detained at the ADX Florence Supermax jail - a maximum security prison in Colorado - if extradited.
Lawyers for the US said he would be allowed to transfer to Australia to serve any prison sentence he may be given closer to home, the BBC reported.
Assange was arrested in April 2019 when British authorities entered the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had been holed up for seven years, and took him into custody on a US extradition warrant.
Assange has been held in Belmarsh Prison since 2019 after he was carried out of the Ecuadorian embassy by police before being arrested for breaching his bail conditions.
He had been living in the Ecuadorian Embassy since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sex offence allegations, which he has always denied and were eventually dropped.
Assange's fiancee Moris called the ruling "dangerous and misguided", adding that the US assurances were "inherently unreliable".
In an emotional statement outside the court, Moris said: "For the past... two years and a half, Julian has remained in Belmarsh prison, and in fact he has been detained since 7 December 2010 in one form or another, 11 years. For how long can this go on?"
Wikileaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said in a statement: "Julian's life is once more under grave threat, and so is the right of journalists to publish material that governments and corporations find inconvenient.
"This is about the right of a free press to publish without being threatened by a bullying superpower," Hrafnsson said.
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Odisha woman raped twice in a day, dies after being thrown off four-storey building; 2 held
Paradip (Odisha) (PTI): A 23-year-old woman was raped twice in a day in separate places by her boyfriend and a stranger offering help and then thrown off a four-storey building, leading to her death, in Odisha's Jagatsinghpur district, police said on Friday.
Police arrested both the accused and booked them under various sections of BNS for kidnapping, rape and murder.
"The incident took place on February 22 after the woman left her house with plans to elope with her boyfriend, who had asked her to come to a temple by promising to marry her. However, he took her to a secluded place, raped her and abandoned her at Rahama bus stand," Jagatsinghpur Superintendent of Police Ankit Kumar Verma told reporters.
As the victim was waiting at the bus stand, another man hailing from Jharkhand, who was heading to nearby Paradip on his motorcycle, saw the hapless woman and offered help.
He, however, took her to the roof of his rented accommodation at a place in Paradip town and raped her again, the SP said.
The accused then threw the woman from the roof of the building, leading to her death, he said, adding her body was found the next morning.
The SP said the victim's brother lodged a complaint at Paradip Model police station on February 25, alleging that his sister was raped and murdered on February 22. An unnatural death case was registered on February 23 following the recovery of the woman's body.
Earlier, in the evening of February 22, the woman's brother had lodged a missing persons case at Tirtol police station when his sister did not return home.
BJD supremo and Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Naveen Patnaik, condemned the incident and demanded justice for the woman and other victims of recent rape incidents.
"How many more innocent lives will be lost? From underage girls to differently abled young women, no one is safe. So, is the rule of law still in place in the state? The news of heinous crimes coming from Kanhari in Angul, Kuchinda in Sambalpur, and Paradip is deeply disturbing. Chaos everywhere, insecurity all around, O Mother!" he said in an X post.
"While the government delivers long-winded speeches on women's safety and law and order, the ground reality is extremely alarming. Even in broad daylight, an atmosphere of fear prevails. Despite repeated instances of such deplorable incidents, the government's failure to take any exemplary, stringent action is emboldening the criminals. The government should take proactive steps to spread awareness on women's safety and ensure the rule of law is upheld in the state," the former CM added.
