The High Court has ruled that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange can appeal against his extradition to the US.
Two senior judges permitted him to appeal against an earlier order, ruling that he needed to be given a full appeal in the UK.
He now has the permission to appeal against the instruction that he be sent to the US to stand trial for leaking military secrets. His disclosures in 2010 revealed war crimes by the US.
Assange will be able to challenge the US over how his prospective trial would be conducted and whether his right to free speech would be overstepped.
His lawyers have argued that the case against him is politically motivated.
His wife, Stella Assange says it is a “decisive” day in legal battle. Assange, who is currently in Belmarsh Prison, will now have some months to prepare his appeal which will concern whether or not the US courts will protect his right to free speech as an Australian citizen.
Supporters of Assange cheered as news of the decision filtered out of the court room. It means he will remain in the UK for now.
Had the court ruled in the US’s favour, Assange would have exhausted all legal avenues in the UK.
He has resisted extradition from the UK for more than a decade after his Wikileaks website published thousands of secret US documents in 2010 and 2011.
The US Department of Justice described the leaks as “one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States”.
His expose included incidents of US-funded abuses and unreported atrocities of the US military during the war in Afghanistan. US authorities posit that Assange’s action endangered lives by failing to redact the names of intelligence operatives in the documents.
