julian assange jail trial
Julian Assange in 2021 (Image: PA/Victoria Jones)

Britain’s High Court has expanded the United States’ grounds for appeal in its legal battle to extradite Julian Assange, where he faces charges of espionage. 

In January, a court ruled Assange couldn’t be extradited, because of concerns over his mental health and risk of suicide. Conditions in a maximum security American prison would not offer him sufficient protection, Judge Vanessa Baraitser initially ruled.

The US is already appealing that decision on three grounds. Overnight, Lord Justice Timothy Holroyde gave them a fourth, ruling that the appeal could include arguments that challenged expert evidence given by psychiatrist Michael Kopelman. 

Kopelman’s evidence helped establish Assange’s suicide risk. The US wants to challenge that evidence, arguing it is misleading because it omitted to mention Assange fathered two children, left out of the report to protect their identities.

It means Assange’s indefinite, Kafkaesque legal battle continues to drag on without a resolution date in sight, and with little support from the Australian government.

What it means for Assange

The latest court case is a blow for Assange’s team, but doesn’t necessarily make his extradition any more likely, says Greg Barns SC, an Australian legal advisor to the Assange campaign.

“Simply because the court has broadened the appeal grounds does not indicate the US has strengthened its position,” he said.

“The real issue is that this case continues to drag on, and Julian remains incarcerated in brutal conditions in Belmarsh prison.”

But the win does mean the United States has further ammunition for a full UK High Court appeal due in October. No matter the result of that ruling, an appeal to the UK’s highest court, the Supreme Court, is likely to follow.

Barns estimates Assange’s incarceration in the UK could continue well into next year. If he is extradited, he will face months, if not years, awaiting a criminal trial in the United States, where he’s been charged with a number of hacking and espionage offences. 

The time spent in limbo in the US, likely in a maximum security prison, was key to the initial decision to deny the American extradition request. Baraitser said the conditions in an American prison would not prevent Assange from taking his own life.

While successive Australian governments have avoided publicly fighting for Assange, we’ve been implicitly drawn into the American legal strategy to challenge that initial ruling.

In trying to downplay the state of conditions Assange might face, American lawyers have repeatedly assured the court Assange could serve any jail time in Australia rather than the US. 

Barns says any promise made by the US needs to be taken with a grain of salt. 

“It’s a ruse that is a number of years away and depends on the government that is in power,” he said.

“Even if he were to return to Australia, there would be a high likelihood that he would end up in a high security and really brutal Australian jail.”

While Crikey understands there have been discussions between Canberra and Washington DC about Assange’s future if convicted, Foreign Minister Marise Payne didn’t comment, and her office has generally avoided discussing the case, citing ongoing legal proceedings. 

Meanwhile, there’s been some domestic push for Assange’s release. Labor Leader Anthony Albanese wants him freed from prison. The Greens have repeatedly pushed Payne to do more for Assange.

But the Wikileaks founder remains in prison, denied bail over fears he is a flight risk, his freedom still a distant prospect.