Assange faces further wait for appeal against extradition to U.S.

Signs showing support for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange are seen in a protest outside the High Court in London, Britain, on March 26, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

Assange's family and protesters have condemned the court's decision as an assault on press freedom and a shame on democracy.

LONDON, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Wikileaks founder Julian Assange faces a further wait to find out whether he can bring an appeal against his extradition to the United States, the High Court ruled on Tuesday.

According to the ruling, a decision on the appeal has been adjourned to May 20 as the court is seeking assurances from the United States that Assange could rely on the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and he would not be sentenced to death if convicted.

"If those assurances are not given, then leave to appeal will be given and there will then be an appeal hearing," a summary of the judgment said.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's wife Stella Assange takes part in a protest outside the High Court in London, Britain, on March 26, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

Speaking outside the High Court in London, Assange's wife Stella Assange said she is "astounded" by the court's decision to delay her husband's appeal.

"What the courts have done has been to invite a political intervention from the United States," she said. "I find this astounding."

Assange is "a political prisoner," she told supporters. "He is a journalist and he is being persecuted because he exposed the true cost of war in human lives."

His case is "a signal to all of you that if you expose the interests that are driving war they will come after you," Stella said as she urged the U.S. government not to submit assurances to the High Court and to drop "this shameful case."

"This is a shame on every democracy," she added.

Signs showing support for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange are seen in a protest outside the High Court in London, Britain, on March 26, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

Dave Putson, a protester outside the High Court holding a banner that reads "Free Julian Assange," said the court's ruling is "a wrong decision."

"I think he should have been freed five years ago. I don't think he should be incarcerated at all," Putson told Xinhua.

Putson described the court's decision as an attack on freedom of the press. "He was exposing war crimes. He wasn't committing war crimes when he was releasing the WikiLeaks information, and he shouldn't be incarcerated for doing journalism."

The protests will continue, he said, "until we can actually get the result that we want and Julian Assange deserves, and press freedom deserves."

Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange take part in a protest outside the High Court in London, Britain, on March 26, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary of the British National Union of Journalists, said the risks to Assange and press freedom "remain stark," despite the delay to the High Court's ruling.

"Assange's prosecution by the United States is for activities that are daily work for investigative journalists -- finding sources with evidence of criminality and helping them to get their stories out into the world," she said. "If Assange is prosecuted, free expression the world over will be damaged."

Assange, 52, is wanted by the United States on allegations of disclosing national defense information following WikiLeaks's publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked military documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars a decade ago, which included an Apache helicopter video footage documenting the U.S. military gunning down Reuters journalists and children in Baghdad's streets in 2007.

He has been held at southeast London's high-security Belmarsh Prison since 2019. Britain approved his extradition to the United States in 2022 under then Home Secretary Priti Patel after a judge initially blocked it on Assange's mental health concerns. Assange and his lawyers have appealed since then.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's wife Stella Assange (L) walks out of the High Court in London, Britain, on March 26, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Ying)