(London, U.K.) Julian Assange’s extradition battle against the United States edged closer to proceeding after a British magistrate signed an order referring his case to Home Secretary Priti Patel on Wednesday.
In what was largely a formal hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Mark Summers QC — representing the WikiLeaks founder — nonetheless said it was a “brief but significant moment in the case.”
After Clair Dobbin QC — on behalf of the United States — reminded the chief magistrate, District Judge Paul Goldspring, of a March 14 ruling from the U.K.’s Supreme Court that rejected to hear a limited Assange appeal on the issue of diplomatic assurances, Summers conceded that the judge had no option but to send the case to the Secretary of State.
“It is not open to me to raise fresh evidence and issues, even though there are fresh developments in the case,” Summers said. He stressed however that Assange’s defence would be making “serious submissions” to the Home Secretary in respect of US prison conditions, Assange’s likely sentence and the severity of restrictions he would likely be placed under.
District Judge Goldspring, in sending the case to Patel, the Conservative Member of Parliament for Witham, reminded the court that Assange would be entitled to a further appeal should Patel opt to approve his extradition.
“My role is simply to act in accordance with the direction of the divisional court,” Goldspring said. “In layman’s terms, I am duty bound to relay your case to the Secretary of State for a decision whether or not you should be extradited pursuant to Section 87(3) of the Extradition Act [of 2003].”
He added: “Having sent matters to the Secretary of State, you have the right to appeal to the High Court, and if you exercise your right of appeal, it will not be heard until the Secretary of State has made her decision under the act.”
Goldspring further stated no applications for bail had been made and remanded Assange in custody pending the outcome of Patel’s decision. The journalist and publisher marked three years incarcerated at the maxiumum-security H.M.P. Berlmarsh on April 11.
Speaking outside the court, Stella Moris, who married Assange in Belmarsh last month, said: “Today was a formality, but I still felt sick to my stomach about what happened today — a magistrate signing an order to send Julian to the United States.
“The U.K. has no obligation to extradite Julian Assange to the United States. In fact, it’s required by its international obligations to stop this extradition. Boris Johnson and Priti Patel, don’t extradite Julian to the country that conspired to murder him,” pointing to revelations uncovered by Yahoo! News in which former US officials said the CIA had drawn up “sketches” to assassinate Assange.
Moris, 37, further called on Johnson and Patel to enforce Article 4 of the U.S.-U.K. Extradition Treaty — intended to prohibit extradition of political prisoners. In making the original ruling in January 2021, then-District Judge Vanessa Baraitser, since promoted to Circuit Judge, claimed that Parliament intended to change the statutory regime by removing decades-old protections for political offences when they were left unmentioned in the U.K. Extradition Act of 2003. Conservative MP David Davis later addressed Parliament to correct Baraitser and stated it was never Parliament’s intention to remove these protections.
Assange’s lawyers now have one month to file their submissions with Patel.
The case continues.