Hope for Assange as he fights possibility of US death sentence

JULIAN ASSANGE was today given fresh hope in his battle against extradition to the United States, after judges blocked his immediate transfer for trial on hacking and espionage charges.

- Tristan Kirk

The Wikileaks founder, 52, has spent more than 13 years seeking to avoid a trial in the US over the mass leak of confidential military records. In 2010 and 2011, Assange orchestrated the publication of information about the Iraq and Afghan wars as well as detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

He and his supporters say this was simply part of his work as a journalist, exposing wrongdoing by the US state. But he now faces 18 criminal charges including allegations of hacking and espionage. At the High Court this morning, Dame Victoria Sharp, president of the King’s Bench Division, and Mr Justice Johnson dismissed six of the nine points of appeal brought by Assange and his legal team.