Top QC with Julian Assange's legal team welcomes Supreme Court referral

The decision by the High Court on Monday to allow Julian Assange's legal team to ask the Supreme Court to consider whether the Swedish state prosecutor has the right to order his extradition, has been welcomed by a top QC involved with the case.

Helen Kennedy, a barrister who has worked with Assange's legal team throughout the case, explained to V3 that the development has implications far beyond the case of the WikiLeaks founder, and raises fundamental questions about the authority of judges and state prosecutors.

"There has to be a judicial authority, acting independently of the state, that's able to contain any inappropriate uses of power by nation states," she said.

"Otherwise prosecutors in any nation, acting on behalf of the state, would be able to order extraditions without independent approval. The decision today recognises that this case raises issues central to the lives of all citizens."

Kennedy explained that the decision by the court on Monday does not alter the ruling that Assange is to be extradited, but means that the Supreme Court will consider the argument and could possibly reverse the decision.

"The Supreme Court will either dismiss the issue without hearing any more evidence, or ask to hear more on the argument, but then still dismiss it, or they could agree with the argument and overturn the decision," she said.

Whatever the upshot of the Supreme Court's decision, this is unlikely to be the last chapter in a case which has rumbled on for almost a year since Assange was first placed under house arrest.

Whether threatening governments by releasing reams of confidential information, or forcing legal systems to consider fundamental questions on their authority, Assange looks set to remain a thorn in the side of those in power for some time yet.

05 Dec 2011