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- author, Dominic Casciani
- role, Home affairs correspondent
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can file a new appeal against his extradition to the United States, the High Court has ruled.
Prosecutors argued his life was at risk and were granted leave to appeal an order to send him to the United States to stand trial on charges of leaking military secrets.
The decision means Mr. Assange can challenge U.S. guarantees about how future trials will be conducted and whether his right to free speech will be violated.
Mr Assange's lawyers hugged each other in court after the verdict.
They claim the case against him is politically motivated.
In a brief judgment this morning, two senior judges gave him permission to appeal against the earlier order and ruled that the appeal must be lodged entirely in the UK.
Mr Assange, currently in Belmarsh Prison, will spend the next few months preparing his appeal, which will see a US court protect his free speech rights as an Australian citizen. It depends on whether you do it or not.
He claims his 2010 revelations revealed war crimes by the United States.
Assange's supporters cheered as news of the verdict came from the courtroom.
That means he will remain in the UK for the time being.
Had the court ruled in the US' favor, Mr Assange would have exhausted all legal avenues in the UK.
He has resisted extradition from the UK for more than a decade after the WikiLeaks website published thousands of classified US documents in 2010 and 2011.
The US Department of Justice said the leak was “one of the largest breaches of classified information in US history”.
The files suggested that U.S. troops had killed civilians in unreported incidents during the Afghanistan war.
U.S. authorities say Mr. Assange risked lives by not redacting the names of agents in documents, but his lawyers say the incident is politically motivated “state retaliation.” claims.
