Julian Assange denied permission to challenge extradition

Key Facts

Mr Assange faces an 18-count indictment from the US government, accusing him of conspiring to hack into US military databases to acquire sensitive secret information relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, which was then published on the Wikileaks website.
In January 2021, a lower judge who deals with extradition requests ruled that while the US had a case to prosecute Mr Assange for alleged offences relating to the mass hacking of government systems, he could not be sent from the UK to stand trial - because there was no guarantee that American authorities could safely care for him.
Then, last month, Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice, said there was now a legal question over how those assurances had been provided - and gave Mr Assange's lawyers 14 days to make the application to the Supreme Court.
If convicted in the US, Mr Assange faces a possible penalty of up to 175 years in jail, his lawyers have said.