Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, has been denied a final appeal for extradition to the United States

On Monday, Julian Assange was denied permission to file an appeal with the UK Supreme Court against moves to extradite him to the United States, where he could face life in prison.
Washington wants to charge the Wikileaks founder with releasing 500,000 secret military files related to the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He initially won a stay of execution on the grounds that if he was kept in solitary confinement at a maximum security US facility, he would commit suicide.

However, lawyers for the US government filed an appeal, and the lower court’s decision was overturned, resulting in additional legal challenges.

In January, two judges granted the 50-year-old Australian publisher permission to file an application with the country’s highest court on “laws of general public importance.”

However, a court spokeswoman stated, “The Supreme Court has refused permission to appeal… because the application did not raise an arguable point of law.”

“The parties were informed this afternoon,” she added.

“The case now moves to @UKHomeSecretary Priti Patel to authorise the extradition,” Wikileaks said on Twitter.

The long-running case has become a cause celebre for media freedom, with supporters of Assange accusing Washington of attempting to stifle reporting of legitimate security concerns.

Assange is wanted for prosecution for violating the US Espionage Act in 2010 by publishing military and diplomatic files.

If found guilty, he could face up to 175 years in prison, though the exact sentence is difficult to predict.

Since 2019, he has been held on remand at a high-security prison in southeast London for breaching bail in a previous case accusing him of sexual assault in Sweden.

Although that case was dismissed, he was not released from prison because he posed a flight risk in the US extradition case.

Stella Moris, Assange’s fiancee and the mother of his two young sons, announced over the weekend that the couple will marry on March 23.