LONDON — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Friday came one step closer to facing charges in the United States of spying and conspiring to hack into government computers after Washington won an appeal over his extradition in a British court.
“This is the judgment of the court,” said Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett in Friday’s ruling, which found that a past decision against extraditing Assange might have been different in light of more recent assurances from the U.S. that he would not be held under highly restrictive conditions.
“That risk is in our judgment excluded by the assurances which are offered. It follows that we are satisfied that, if the assurances had been before the judge, she would have answered the relevant question differently,” Burnett said.
Assange’s legal team promised to appeal, with his brother and fiancée vowing to keep fighting against his extradition.
