London's High Court allows Assange to appeal US extradition decision

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Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will be able to appeal a decision to extradite him to the United States. At a hearing in London's High Court, Assange said that as a foreign national, he would not be able to rely on the rights and protections of the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech and the press, in the United States.

According to lawyer Edward Fitzgerald, the appeal could be heard within a few months. Fitzgerald also said that if Assange loses in court, he could be flown to the US within 24 hours. The lawyer also assured that his client does not face the death penalty, since the US has given "an unambiguous undertaking not to bring charges that carry the death penalty."

The WikiLeaks founder has been charged in the United States with 17 counts of espionage and one count of computer misuse, and faces a combined 175 years in prison. Prosecutors say Assange conspired with U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to gain access to diplomatic and military documents that were then published by WikiLeaks.

In 2012, Ecuador granted Assange asylum. He spent the next seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London before being arrested in 2019. That same day, US authorities brought espionage charges against him and have been seeking his extradition ever since.