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00:00 It wasn't the ruling his team were hoping for. Julian Assange won't be extradited to
00:06 the US immediately, but the UK court ruled it could still happen if the United States
00:11 can provide further assurances in the case within three weeks.
00:16 "What the courts have done has been to invite a political intervention from the United States
00:22 to send a letter saying it's all okay. Julian is a political prisoner, he is a journalist
00:31 and he is being persecuted because he exposed the true cost of war in human lives."
00:40 The US is seeking Assange to put him on trial there, over Wikileaks' publication of secret
00:46 military and diplomatic files in 2010 relating to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
00:54 The British High Court said the US must provide assurances that Assange would not face the
00:59 death penalty and that, as an Australian, he would be afforded the same First Amendment
01:04 protections as a US citizen.
01:06 "There is a very real risk and concern that he will not be afforded free speech protections.
01:12 This is a dangerous precedent. It means that any journalist and publisher who is outside
01:16 of the United States publishing truthful information about the United States but is not a United
01:21 States citizen will not benefit from the First Amendment and that should be concerning for
01:25 every single journalist in this room and every single journalist watching."
01:28 Assange's team is urging the US to drop the case, which they say is political. The US
01:35 government said Assange's actions went beyond journalism by soliciting, stealing and indiscriminately
01:41 publishing classified documents that endangered many people.
01:46 For now, Assange will remain at the high security prison in London where he has been held since
01:50 2019, after he took refuge for nearly seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy.
01:56 If the judges are swayed by the US's assurances, Assange would have exhausted all UK appeals.
02:03 He may, though, then turn to the European courts to intervene.
02:06 (audience cheering)