The High Court in London ruled Monday that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has a right to appeal against his extradition to the United States.

Assange is facing 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse due to his website's publication of a trove of classified US documents almost 15 years ago.

Assurances over free speech

Assange has spent the last five years in a British high-security prison after seeking refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for seven years, trying to avoid extradition.

In 2022, the United Kingdom's then-Home Secretary, Priti Patel, signed an extradition order, but Assange turned to the High Court in February 2024 to ask for permission to appeal.

In March, two judges rejected the bulk of Assange's arguments but said he could take his case to the Court of Appeal unless Washington provided further assurances his life would not be at risk and his right to free speech would be infringed.

Assange's lawyers argued that the US had not guaranteed he would have the same free speech protections as an American citizen if extradited from Britain.

"We say this is a blatantly inadequate assurance," his lawyer told the court. 

They had accepted a separate assurance that Assange would not face the death penalty. The US had provided an "unambiguous promise not to charge any capital offense."

On Monday, two senior judges found he has grounds to challenge the UK government's extradition order.

His supporters outside the court cheered and applauded as news of the ruling reached them from inside the Royal Courts of Justice.

Assange's wife, Stella, said outside the court the US should "read the situation" and drop the case.

"As a family we are relieved but how long can this go on?" she said. "This case is shameful and it is taking an enormous toll on Julian."

"President Biden made a spontaneous remark a few, a few weeks ago, saying that they're considering dropping the case," she told DW's Birgit Maass outside court. 

"We know that this, this case against Julian is extremely controversial, that there are people within the administration that think it should be dropped and those, those voices should be listened to," she said. 

The US case against Assange 

Some of the most famous leaks of classified documents by WikiLeaks pertained to operations in Iraq and Afghanistan while NATO forces were present in those countries.

The site's first big scoop, however, was the release of a tranche of diplomatic cables in 2010 between the US Department of State and its missions around the world.

The US government argues that Assange's actions went beyond journalism or whistleblowing by soliciting, stealing and indiscriminately publishing classified documents, also arguing that this action endangered innocent lives.

During arguments to determine his right to appeal, attorney James Lewis, representing the US, stated that the US First Amendment did not protect Assange's behavior.

"No one, neither U.S. citizens nor foreign citizens, are entitled to rely on the First Amendment in relation to publication of illegally obtained national defense information giving the names of innocent sources, to their grave and imminent risk of harm," Lewis said.

lo/rc, wd (AP, AFP, Reuters)