Julian Assange has won another chance to appeal against extradition to the US on espionage charges, but he is not out of danger.
The high court in London gave Assange his legal victory on 20 May, after finding that the US government had not given strong enough guarantees or ‘assurances’ that Assange would not be mistreated.
Assange’s lawyers accepted one assurance, that he will not be subjected to the death penalty if convicted in the US.
However, the US government did not say that Assange would be able to rely on the first amendment to the US constitution, which protects free speech, or that his Australian nationality would not count against him.
It only said that Assange would be able ‘to raise and seek to rely upon’ the rights and protections given under the first amendment, and that his nationality would not limit the legal defences he could ‘seek to raise’ at trial and at sentencing.