Julian Assange denied permission to appeal extradition to US

LONDON - Britain's Supreme Court on Monday refused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange permission to appeal against a High Court decision to extradite him to the United States to face espionage charges.

A Supreme Court spokesperson said that the appeal "did not raise an arguable point of law."

In December 2021, Britain's High Court ruled that Assange can be extradited to the United States, as it overturned a lower court ruling based on concerns about Assange's mental health and risk of suicide in a maximum-security prison in the United States. Assange's lawyers had sought to appeal against the High Court's decision at the Supreme Court.

Assange, 50, is wanted in the United States on allegations of disclosing national defense information following WikiLeaks's publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked military documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars a decade ago.

He has been held at south London's high-security Belmarsh Prison since 2019.

Lawyers for the United States said earlier that Assange would be allowed to transfer to Australia, his home country, to serve any prison sentence he may be given.