Julian Assange too unwell to attend final appeal against US extradition

Lawyers for WikiLeaks founder ask High Court for leave to challenge original judge’s dismissal of parts of his case against being extradited

Julian Assange is not attending the first day of his final appeal against his extradition to the United States at the High Court because of illness.
Assange’s lawyer Edward Fitzgerald told the court, “he is not well today, he is not attending,” at the start of the hearing on Tuesday.
The WikiLeaks founder is wanted in the US over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information following the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
Assange spent seven years holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London before he was forcibly removed when his political asylum was revoked in 2019.
Since then he has been remanded in custody at Belmarsh prison in south-east London.
His supporters claim he faces 175 years in prison if he is extradited to the United States.
Protesters gathered outside the High Court from 8am in support of Assange, whose two-day extradition appeal began at 10.30am.
Demonstrators waved Australian flags with placards that read “Free Julian Assange” and “drop the charges”, while some chanted “there is only one decision – no extradition” and “US, UK, hands off Assange”.
Jodie Asard travelled with her son from Adelaide, Australia, to support Assange’s appeal case.
Outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Ms Asard said: “We’ve come over from Australia to stand with our brothers and sisters here and to represent Australia and to make sure that the Australian government knows that 88 per cent of Australians want Julian Assange free and to be brought home.
“It’s probably the trial of the century to be honest in regards to free speech, free press and our right to know, so that’s why I’m here to stand with Julian and all these people here to call for him to be completely, safely released.”
Ms Asard added that the way Assange had been kept in a “three-by-two metre cell” in Belmarsh prison was “criminal”.
“He is being abused, in my opinion, institutionally abused by our Western governments,” she added.
In a January 2021 ruling, then-district judge Vanessa Baraitser said Assange should not be sent to the US, citing a real and “oppressive” risk of suicide, while ruling against the 52-year-old on all other issues.
But US authorities subsequently brought a successful challenge against this decision, paving the way for Assange’s extradition.
Lawyers for Assange will now ask the High Court in London for the go-ahead to challenge the original judge’s dismissal of other parts of his case against extradition.
The hearing comes after High Court judge Mr Justice Swift first refused to give Assange the green light to appeal – without a hearing – last June.
A two-day hearing is now set to begin on Tuesday, which is expected to be Assange’s final chance to be granted an appeal in a UK court.
Speaking at a press conference last week, his wife Stella Assange said that if the appeal bid is unsuccessful, Assange would apply to the European Court of Human Rights for a Rule 39 order to stop extradition while it considers his case.
During their earlier successful challenge, lawyers for the US authorities said Judge Baraitser’s decision risked becoming a “trump card” for anyone who wanted to oppose their extradition.
They also said that four “binding” diplomatic assurances had been made, including that the US would consent to Assange being transferred to Australia, where he was born, to serve any prison sentence he may be given.
Assange, 52, is the founder of WikiLeaks, a non-profit organisation set up in 2006 to publish classified information from anonymous sources. It claims to be a platform for whistleblowers and to have published more than 10 million files. 
Assange became a skilled hacker during his teenage years and by 1996 – aged 25 – he had pleaded guilty to 24 charges of hacking and related crimes in Australia, being fined $2,100. 
Assange has described WikiLeaks as “a giant library of the world’s most persecuted documents”. 
Assange was born in Townsville, Queensland in 1971, but moved often, living in more than 30 Australian towns and cities throughout his childhood. 
Assange is facing extradition to the United States on 17 charges related to obtaining and disclosing US defence information and one charge of conspiring with Chelsea Manning to hack a government system. 
He will appear at the High Court in London on Tuesday to make his final appeal against his extradition.
WikiLeaks has released, among other things, footage from a US military helicopter showing civilians being killed in Baghdad in Iraq, documents relating to the unreported killing of civilians by US military in Afghanistan and a manual for operations at Guantanamo Bay. 
It also shared US State Department diplomatic cables in 2010 and files which documented alleged spying by the US on European leaders, including Angela Merkel. In 2016, WikiLeaks leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the campaign manager of Hillary Clinton which damaged Clinton’s run for president. 
Since April 2019, Assange has been confined in HM Prison Belmarsh, London.
Assange evaded extradition by taking refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy from 2012 to 2019. At this time, a warrant had been issued for his arrest by Sweden over allegations of sexual assault, which Assange denied.  
However, in 2019, his political asylum status was withdrawn following a disagreement with the Ecuadorian authorities and he was sentenced to 50 weeks in Belmarsh prison for breach of bail conditions. Then in 2021, a judge ruled that Assange’s detention should continue on the “substantial grounds” that he might abscond from future appeal hearings.
While the Swedish investigation against him has since been dropped, the US government unsealed their own indictments against Assange, and his extradition to the US is currently being contested in the British courts.
If extradited, Assange could face a 175-year prison sentence, according to his lawyers. He has also claimed that he might be tortured.
Assange’s wife has said he will “die” if extradited and his lawyers have promised to lodge an appeal at the European Court of Human Rights if his attempt fails this week in the High Court.