Critical press freedom test for the UK as Assange faces final appeal

This week, WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange will be back in court for what may be his final opportunity to persuade a UK court to halt his extradition to the United States, where he faces an unprecedented set of charges related to his journalism.

Blueprint for Free Speech has been monitoring these hearings since Assange was arrested in April 2019 and we have long warned about the dire ramifications of his US prosecution for press freedom. As the Guardian's leader this morning reiterates, the criminalisation of journalist's communications with their sources have obviously serious implications for the ability of investigative journalists worldwide to do their jobs.

For a case as critical to freedom of the press as this one, it is perhaps surprising that arguments on this subject have played a relatively minor role in this case to date. The freedom of expression arguments put forward by Assange's legal team were initially rejected by the first instance judge who ruled against extradition to the United States back in early 2021. Her decision to discharge was based on other grounds, primarily the likely impact on Assange's physical and mental health should he be extradited to the United States.

That decision was appealed by the United States, which finally issued a set of diplomatic assurances that the UK Supreme Court, in declining to hear a further appeal, decided was not open to challenge.

Now, finally, Assange's legal team is seeking permission to appeal on freedom of expression grounds and the importance of journalism to revealing evidence of state crimes, among others. A panel of two High Court judges is expected to give its decision at the conclusion of, or shortly after, the two-day hearing.

If permission for appeal is denied, then that means there is no further opportunity for Assange to challenge his extradition within the UK legal system. His legal team would still have the opportunity to initiate a challenge at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg. While a decision on interim measures to keep Assange in the UK pending a hearing could happen fairly quickly, a full ECtHR hearing is likely to be years away.

As ever, Blueprint will be publishing reports from this week's hearings and photos that are free to use..

Documents

Julian Assange’s skeleton argument for this week’s hearing. Grounds for renewal part 2 and part 3.

Response from the Government of the United States of America.