On March 26, 2022, the UK High Court issued a decision about whether journalist Julian Assange could appeal his extradition to the United States. The United States is seeking to put the WikiLeaks founder and Australian journalist on trial for exposing US war crimes and abuses of power. After a nearly five-year legal process, during which a UK judge blocked Assange’s extradition only for a higher court to reverse, the UK High Court in February held two days of hearings on whether Assange had the right to appeal his extradition on a myriad of grounds, including press freedom and free expression concerns. Had the court rejected Assange’s right to appeal, it would have foreclosed any further options for the journalist to fight his extradition before the UK judiciary.

During two days of hearings in February, the British judges presiding over the case seemed to express concern about the possibility that the United States could argue Assange lacked First Amendment rights as a foreign national and the United States’ lack of assurances that it would not seek the death penalty against him. As a result, unsurprisingly, they granted Assange the right to appeal based on these issues.

While the UK High Court has halted Assange’s extradition for now, there is grave cause for alarm. Assange’s lawyers sought to appeal the extradition on nine separate grounds. The UK High Court granted limited appeal rights on three very narrow grounds. In doing so, it dismissed the bulk of Assange’s serious free expression arguments.