A United Kingdom (UK) court on Wednesday formally approved the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States (US) to face spying charges. The case will now go to interior minister Priti Patel, who will decide whether Assange will be extradited to the US for allegedly releasing confidential documents.
The procedural step, in what has been a long-running and high-profile legal battle, was announced at a hearing in central London following a March decision to deny Australian-born Assange permission to appeal against his extradition.
The extradition order must now be signed by 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.
However, Assange’s lawyers have vowed to make representations to Patel and potentially 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 last month.
“That separate process of appeal has, of course, yet to be initiated.”
Assange, 50, is wanted in the United States on 18 criminal charges, including breaking a spying law, after WikiLeaks published thousands of secret US files in 2010.
He denies any wrongdoing.
Assange has been in a southeast London jail since 2019, and before that was holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in the British capital for seven years.
