Assange ruling ‘bizarre’ claims activist’s wife

JULIAN Assange’s wife has called judges’ decisions to delay their ruling over whether the WikiLeaks founder can bring a final UK appeal against extradition as “utterly bizarre” with the court “tying itself in knots”.

The Australian faces prosecution in the US over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information following the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

During a two-day hearing in February, lawyers for the 52-yearold asked for the goahead to bring an appeal against his extradition.

In a judgment yesterday, Dame Victoria Sharp and Mr Justice Johnson dismissed most of Assange’s legal arguments but said unless assurances were given by the US, he would be able to bring an appeal on three grounds.

The judges said the US authorities had three weeks to give those assurances, with a final hearing potentially taking place in late May.

Following the ruling, Assange’s wife Stella Assange, inset, described the judgment delaying the final decision over the appeal bid as “astounding”. She said: “I find the judgment utterly bizarre. As I said before, my impression is that the court is tying itself in knots.”

Ms Assange said the legal fight was “an unprecedented case” and that courts in the UK should have “thrown out” the case. Earlier, Ms Assange branded her husband a “political prisoner” who is being “persecuted” for exposing the “true cost of war”. In the 66-page ruling, judge Dame Victoria said “satisfactory assurances” would be needed that Assange would be allowed to rely on the First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech in the US, that he is not “prejudiced at trial” due to his nationality, and that the death penalty is not imposed.