One step closer to US extradition: Supreme Court denies WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange appeal
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been denied permission to appeal against the High Court’s decision to extradite him to the United States at the Supreme Court.
“The application has been refused by the Supreme Court and the reason given is that application did not raise an arguable point of law” a supreme court spokesperson said.
Back in December, Washington won the latest stage of its legal bid in the High Court to have the WikiLeaks founder extradited to face charges – leaving his only option being the Supreme Court.
The Department of Justice indicted the Australian-born Assange on 18 counts, including breaking spying laws and conspiring to hack government computers.
WikiLeaks published thousands of classified documents in 2010 and 2011, supplied by US Army Intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. This included confidential military records and diplomatic cables.
The extradition decision will now need to be signed by Home Secretary Priti Patel, after which Assange can try to challenge the decision by judicial review.
A judicial review involves a judge examining the legitimacy of a public body’s decision.