Julian Assange Extradition Hearing: Wikileaks Founder Wins Right To Appeal

Julian Assange is not yet being extradited to the U.S. The Wikileaks founder has in the past few minutes won the right to appeal against the extradition following a ruling by the UK’s High Court.

Today was a big one in Assange’s ongoing legal battle and his wife Stella Assange told the BBC in the past few hours that it was a “decisive” day.

The decision means Assange will be able to challenge U.S. assurances over how his prospective trial would be conducted and whether his right to free speech would be infringed, according to the BBC, which said his lawyers hugged after the ruling.

Assange has spent the past five years in a prison in London while awaiting the extradition hearing. At a briefing last week, Stella Assange and supporters pleaded passionately over his innocence.

Today’s ruling means the Australian-born journalist will not yet be sent across the Atlantic to face 18 charges, almost all of them falling under the Espionage Act. The High Court’s decision is the next step in a legal battle that has been rumbling for more than a decade after Assange’s WikiLeaks performed the biggest security breach of its kind in U.S. military history, according to authorities.

The U.S. authorities say Assange endangered lives by publishing thousands of classified documents, while his lawyers argue that the case against him is politically motivated.