Wikileaks founder Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the United States, a court in London has ruled. The judge on Monday December 4, blocked the request because of concerns over Mr Assange's mental health and risk of suicide in the US.
The
49-year-old is accused by US authorities of conspiring to hack government
computers and of violating an espionage law in connection with the release of
confidential cables by WikiLeaks in 2010-2011.
In her
ruling, Judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected nearly all of the arguments put
forward by Assange's lawyers, including that the charges were politically
motivated and that he would not receive a fair trial in the US.
However,
Judge Baraitser refused the request on the basis of Assange's mental condition
and risk of suicide.
Assange, she
said, lived with at times severe depression and had been diagnosed with
Asperger's syndrome and autism.
"I find
that Mr Assange's risk of committing suicide if an extradition order were to be
made, to be substantial," Judge Baraitser said in her ruling at London's
Old Bailey.
"Faced
with conditions of near-total isolation … I am satisfied that the procedures
[outlined by US authorities] will not prevent Mr Assange from finding a way to
commit suicide," she said.
US government
prosecutors have indicated they will appeal against the ruling in London's High
Court, which could see the case go further to the UK's Supreme Court and delay
an outcome for some time.
Mr Assange
will now be taken back to Belmarsh Prison, where he is being held with his
lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald QC, expected to apply for bail for his client on
Wednesday, pending that appeal.
Assange has
been in custody since April 2019, when he was arrested inside the Ecuadorian
embassy in London and jailed for breaching bail conditions, before the US
Justice Department formally asked for his extradition in June 2019.
If convicted
in the US, Mr. Assange faces a possible penalty of up to 175 years in jail, his
lawyers have said.
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