Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
JULIAN ASSANGE HAS been denied permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court against moves to extradite him to the United States, where he could face a lifetime in prison.
Washington wants to put the WikiLeaks founder on trial in connection with the publication of 500,000 secret military files relating to the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The ruling brings the long-running legal saga in the UK courts closer to a conclusion, unless Assange’s lawyers launch a challenge on a separate point in the case.
In January last year, the 50-year-old Australian appeared to have won a reprieve on the grounds he was a suicide risk if he was kept in solitary confinement at a maximum security US facility.
But the US government appealed, and at a two-day appeal hearing in October its lawyers pointed to diplomatic assurances that Assange would not be held in punishing isolation at a federal supermax prison, and would receive appropriate care.
Approving that appeal, two judges accepted the new assurances, noting they were not unusual in such cases and “solemn undertakings offered by one government to another”.
Assange appealed that ruling and in January two judges allowed him to apply to the country’s highest court on “points of law of general public importance”.
But a spokeswoman for the court said: “The Supreme Court has refused permission to appeal… as the application didn’t raise an arguable point of law”.
She added: “The parties were informed this afternoon.”
WikiLeaks wrote on its Twitter account: “The case now moves to @UKHomeSecretary Priti Patel to authorise the extradition.”
Cause celebre
Assange’s legal team said they will make representations to Patel as she considers whether to allow or block the extradition.
It also indicated it could launch further appeals on other points in the case.
“No appeal to the High Court has yet been filed by him in respect of the other important issues he raised previously,” his lawyers Birnberg Peirce Solicitors said in a statement.
“That separate process of appeal has, of course, yet to be initiated.”
The case has become a cause celebre for media freedom, with Assange’s supporters accusing Washington of trying to muzzle reporting of legitimate security concerns.
Assange is wanted to face trial for violating the US Espionage Act by publishing military and diplomatic files in 2010.
He could face up to 175 years in jail if found guilty, although the exact sentence is difficult to estimate.
He has been held on remand at a top-security jail in southeast London since 2019, for jumping bail in a previous case accusing him of sexual assault in Sweden.
That case was dropped but he was not released from prison after serving time for breaching bail on the grounds he was a flight risk in the US extradition case.
Assange’s fiancée Stella Moris, a former member of his legal team who is the mother of his two young sons, announced at the weekend the couple will marry on 23 March.
The UK authorities have previously given permission for the couple to marry at Belmarsh prison, with just four guests and two witnesses – as well as two security guards – in attendance.
Assange spent seven years at Ecuador’s embassy in London to avoid being removed to Sweden but was arrested when the government changed in Quito and his diplomatic protection was removed.
“He has not offended since” maybe because he was caught and was probably being monitored??
One year he’ll be out. Judge Nolan strikes again.
And to this day Paul begley is still taking therapy for being locked up by judge nolan for Importing garlic instead of apples. Even though he paid the revenue what was owed. Journal change headline to mature student.
@Paul Gorry: Simplistic boIIox. He wasn’t jailed for importing garlic instead of apples. He was jailed for committing a multimillion euro fraud on the citizens/taxpayers of this State. If he couldn’t hack the punishment for his crime, that’s on him.
@Tommy Roche: still got more time than this lad… and he employed people… bottom line is, don’t f*ck with the state’s money… if you do there will be no suspended sentence, anything else is fair game
@Paul Gorry: yeah so true. Sgt. Martin Nolan old scores for someone.
@Stephen Boland: he didnt get more time than this lad. He appealed his sentence and it was drastically reduced.
@Paul Gorry: he’s in therapy eight years after his release? At least his company is making €4K in profits weekly so he can well afford to pay for it.
if this had happened in his own country it would be off with his king ding a ling and probably his head. Here we give him a year tops, probably out in 6 months and no deportation. We have enough numptys of our own without letting this one stay. And can someone in government please for the love of Christ remove this excuse for a judge, Martin Nolan, from his post. The man is unfit for the role.
@Alan Clarke: so your suggestion is to murder people?
@Alan Clarke: he was given 16 months, he’ll get 25% remission which is 4 months off, so he’ll serve 12. Believe it or not that’s actually a decent sentence for this offence here. More often than not they get suspended sentences for first offences when distribution wasn’t involved.
Deport him as soon as he’s out
@Raymond Kelly: deport him first i’d say!
@paddy mulcahy:
“Deport him first”
In other words reward him for his crime with a free plane ticket home??
That is assuming that he is not Irish.
Why is he allowed stay here? I’m confused as to why he wouldn’t be kicked out to be honest?
@Ruby: let him serve his sentence then kick him out
No jail time deport back immediately and let the authories in his country know of antics. I bet he would rather do jail here.
@brendan o connell: ah shur all lives matter ya ya ya
@brendan o connell: we won’t do that because he could face the death penalty in Saudi ..we don’t like doing that… unless of course it’s the USA that asks us …
@Terry Cahill: actually I’d be surprised if there are laws relating to accessing illegal material online in Saudi Arabia. There aren’t in many gulf countries.
Oh Nolan was judge? No surprise there. That lad needs to be removed and investigated. The lad that did this, who’s name reads like a chemical? Chemical castration.
@The Kev in Kevlar: he was investigated, it’s what led to his being charged and sentenced.
This shouldn’t be tolerated in any way and it’s justice served that he was convicted. However, I’d be very interested to know how he was caught. Do the Gardai conduct random searches of people’s search history from certain keywords. Surely GDPR rules prevent the monitoring of people’s search history?
@Dan the man: if you read carefully, the Germans told the Gardaí
@Kevin Feeney: yes I can read. How was Interpol aware of what some lad was searching for from an Irish IP address?
@Dan the man: Think it says it in the article mate. German police alerted Interpol who in turn alerted Gardai. I imagine (and hope) there are state organisations searching out these websites and servers and then monitoring people that access them.
@Ciaran Brady: it doesn’t mate. No mention of how the German’s were randomly looking at the search history of an Irish computer
@Dan the man: the IP address identifies the source computer as based in Ireland.
@Geraldine D’Arcy: well done
@Dan the man: I was referring to how he was caught. Germans informed Interpol who then informed Gardai. The second part of my post is my opinion.
I think we can be sure that German police weren’t looking at random search histories however.
I’m no IT expert but surely it was a site or sites being monitored in order to capture the IP addresses of people accessing. Again, thats just my guess/opinion.
@Dan the man: looking for a way to.covwr your tracks?
@Dan the man: They were probably monitoring German citizens’ activities on particular sites and came across lots of IP addresses in other EU member states and notified the other police forces…..that or they are actively tracking these perverted sites with a view to closing them down.
@Dan the man: Sounds like you could be in bother Danno, ya nonce !
@Dan the man: You’re very interested in finding out how to avoid getting caught, aren’t you?
@Dan the man: Data protection is irrelevant in investigations of this, terrorist and organised crime related natures.
@Dan the man: police monitor places where sex abuse images are posted both on the normal Web and dark Web. Don’t worry their not going to be getting access to your browsing history from virgin media.
@Dan the man: being so concerned with how exactly he was caught is not a good look.
what happened. judge nolan actually sent him to jail. not like him. even with a small sentence
have your say