US Challenges Assange Extradition Block in UK Court

A demonstrator holds a placard outside the Royal Courts of Justice during a protest ahead of an appeal hearing over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's extradition, in London, Britain, October 23, 2021. REUTERS/Tom Nicholson/File Photo
A demonstrator holds a placard outside the Royal Courts of Justice during a protest ahead of an appeal hearing over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's extradition, in London, Britain, October 23, 2021. REUTERS/Tom Nicholson/File Photo
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US Challenges Assange Extradition Block in UK Court

A demonstrator holds a placard outside the Royal Courts of Justice during a protest ahead of an appeal hearing over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's extradition, in London, Britain, October 23, 2021. REUTERS/Tom Nicholson/File Photo
A demonstrator holds a placard outside the Royal Courts of Justice during a protest ahead of an appeal hearing over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's extradition, in London, Britain, October 23, 2021. REUTERS/Tom Nicholson/File Photo

The US government will on Wednesday appeal against a British judge's decision to block the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face trial for publishing military secrets.

At a two-day hearing, Washington will ask the High Court to overturn District Judge Vanessa Baraitser's January ruling that Assange is a serious suicide threat if extradited across the Atlantic, AFP reported.

The United States has said it was "extremely disappointed" at her decision, arguing the judge "didn't appreciate the weight" of expert evidence that said Assange was not at risk of suicide.

Its lawyers have argued Baraitser was "misled" in evidence from Assange's psychiatric expert Michael Kopelman, who they claim concealed things such as that his client had fathered children while holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

During a preliminary hearing in August, the High Court granted the US government's request to appeal against the ruling on five grounds.

Whatever the court's two senior judges decide, months if not years of further legal wrangling loom.

If the US appeal is successful, the case will be sent back to a lower court for a new decision. And whoever loses can also ask for permission for a further, final appeal to the UK's Supreme Court.

- Indicted -
Assange, 50, was arrested in Britain in 2019 for jumping bail after spending seven years inside the Ecuadorian embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden where he faced allegations of sexual assault. These were later dropped.

Despite his extradition being blocked, he has been denied bail pending the outcome of the US appeal, amid fears he would abscond.

He is being held at London's high-security Belmarsh Prison, which his fiancée Stella Moris -- a former member of his legal team who is the mother of his two young boys -- this week branded "a terrible environment".

Assange is wanted in Washington to face 18 charges relating to the 2010 release by WikiLeaks of 500,000 secret files detailing aspects of military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

He has been indicted for violating the US espionage act and for hacking, based on the alleged assistance he provided former military intelligence officer Chelsea Manning in obtaining the documents from secure military computer systems.

If convicted in the US, he faces a maximum sentence of 175 years in jail.

Baraitser had said it was not clear that Washington would be able to ensure his safety in US prisons known for "harsh conditions" while he awaited trial.

She rejected US experts' testimony that Assange would be protected from self-harm, noting that others such as disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein had managed to kill themselves in custody.

- 'Not survive' -
Australian national Assange has a vocal campaign of supporters, led by Moris and his legal team.

Moris said on Monday that she had visited Assange in prison last weekend and was shocked by how thin he looked.

"He was looking very unwell," she said. "The point was that Julian would not survive extradition, that was the conclusion of the judge."

Legal expert Carl Tobias, from the University of Richmond in Virginia, said there was "some chance" of the US winning its appeal.

"The US may be able to convince the High Court that Baraitser assigned too much weight" to the Kopelman report, he told AFP.

"However, even if the High Court agrees with the US contention that she accorded too substantial weight to the expert report, that may not be sufficient to warrant overruling her entire decision," he added.

Advocacy group Reporters Without Borders has urged President Joe Biden to drop the case, arguing the WikiLeaks founder has been "targeted for his contributions to public-interest reporting".

Assange sought, but failed, to obtain a pardon from Biden's predecessor Donald Trump, whose 2016 election campaign benefited from WikiLeaks' release of materials that damaged his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.



US Envoy Plans to Meet Iran's Foreign Minister on Sunday, US Official Says

This combo shows Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, pictured in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025 and Steve Witkoff, right, White House special envoy, pictured in Washington, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photos Stringer, Mark Schiefelbein)
This combo shows Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, pictured in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025 and Steve Witkoff, right, White House special envoy, pictured in Washington, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photos Stringer, Mark Schiefelbein)
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US Envoy Plans to Meet Iran's Foreign Minister on Sunday, US Official Says

This combo shows Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, pictured in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025 and Steve Witkoff, right, White House special envoy, pictured in Washington, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photos Stringer, Mark Schiefelbein)
This combo shows Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, pictured in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025 and Steve Witkoff, right, White House special envoy, pictured in Washington, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photos Stringer, Mark Schiefelbein)

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff plans to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Oman on Sunday and discuss Iran's response to a recent American proposal for a nuclear deal, a US official said late on Wednesday.

Iran said on Monday it will soon hand a counter-proposal for a nuclear deal to the United States in response to a US offer that Tehran deems "unacceptable," while US President Donald Trump said talks would continue.

Trump told a podcast on Monday he was less confident that Iran will agree to stop uranium enrichment in a nuclear deal with Washington, Reuters said.

Trump has been seeking a new nuclear deal to place limits on Iran's disputed uranium enrichment activities and has threatened it with bombing if no agreement is reached.

Iran has long said it has no plans to develop nuclear weapons and is only interested in atomic power generation and other peaceful projects.

During his first White House term, Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed limits on Tehran's uranium enrichment drive in exchange for relief from international sanctions.

Uneasy relations between Iran and the US go back decades. Tehran says Washington has interfered in its affairs, citing events ranging from a 1953 coup against a prime minister to the 2020 killing of its military commander in a US drone strike.

Washington cites Iran's backing of militant groups in the Middle East including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen to say that Iran poses a threat to US ally Israel and Washington's interests in the region.

The militant groups describe themselves as the "Axis of Resistance" to Israeli and US influence in the Middle East.

Trump said on Wednesday US personnel were being moved out of the Middle East because "it could be a dangerous place."

The decision by the US to evacuate some personnel comes at a volatile moment in the region. Trump's efforts to reach a nuclear deal with Iran appear to be deadlocked and US intelligence indicates that Israel has been making preparations for a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.