RE: Julian Assange: Supreme Court Appeal: the big picture
Julian Assange has been held without charge for over 400 days. His case before the Supreme Court on 1 and 2 February 2012 is of ’great public importance’ in the words of the UK Supreme Court.
Philosophically, the significance of the case lies in the robustness of the separation of powers in the UK and the power of the UK courts to invalidate a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) that would be considered unlawful if it were issued in the UK. The case tests the basic legal principle that an individual’s liberty may only be deprived as a result of due process authorised by a court of law, or in its absence, an independent and impartial judicial authority. This is a basic principle of fairness. The impartiality of the decision and the separation of powers intersect in this case where a Swedish partisan prosecutor has issued the EAW for Julian Assange.
Politically the case is significant because it highlights the differing tendencies of the UK common law system, which traditionally provides strong due process safeguards and upholds individual liberties, and the more centralising, executive tendencies of EU countries such as Sweden, within the context of the ’harmonisation’ of a common EU extradition regime.