By James Simons-
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cannot be lawfully extradited to the US to face charges over due to his mental health and suicide risk, a UK judge has ruled.
The judge said said the WikiLeaks founder was likely to be held in conditions of isolation in a so-called supermax prison in the US and procedures described by US authorities would not prevent him from potentially finding a way to take his own life.
“I find that the mental condition of Mr Assange is such that it would be oppressive to extradite him to the United States of America,” she said
His mother, Christine, urged the US not to appeal against the ruling, saying her son has suffered enough.
Evidence
The judge accepted the evidence of prominent medical experts, including details of how Assange had suffered from depression while in prison in London. “The overall impression is of a depressed and sometimes despairing man who is genuinely depressed about his future,” said Baraitser.
The legal case against the 49-year-old was in relation to WikiLeaks’s publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, as well as diplomatic cables, in 2010 and 2011.
Prosecutors accuse Assange helped the US defence analyst Chelsea Manning breach the US Espionage Act, was complicit in hacking by others and published classified information that endangered informants.
A spokesman for the Courage Foundation, one of the groups campaigning on behalf of the WikiLeaks founder, said: “We welcome today’s decision.
“We share concerns about his health but we are concerned about many other elements of this decision.
“A clear signal has been sent that the US arms can reach everywhere.”
Fidel Narvaez, who worked at the Ecuadorean embassy for much of the time Assange lived there, said: “Be aware that freedom of expression is still under attack – if it was not for Julian’s health condition, he would be extradited.”
Assange’s mother tweeted: “UK Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled against extraditing my son Julian to the US on medical grounds.
“US prosecutors state they will appeal.
“I implore Pres Trump & Pres elect Biden to order them to stand down.
“The decade long process was the punishment.
“He has suffered enough.”
UK Judge Vanessa Baraister ruled against extraditing my son Julian to the US on medical grounds
US prosecutors state they will appeal
I implore Pres Trump & Pres elect Biden to order them to stand down
The decade long process was the punishment
Right
Labour MP Richard Burgon said: “It is entirely right that Julian Assange will not be extradited to the US.
“Julian Assange would have been extradited because, as a journalist, he dared to expose US war crimes.
“Any extradition would have been an unprecedented attack on press freedom.”
“This decision will be welcomed by all who value journalists’ ability to report on national security issues.” says the NUJ’s Michelle
Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said: “This decision will be welcomed by all who value journalists’ ability to report on national security issues. However, whilst the outcome is the right one, Judge Vanessa Baraitser’s judgment contains much that is troubling.
“Her basis for dismissing the US’s extradition request was the suicide risk that Assange poses in a US penal system that would probably have kept him in near total isolation.
“The judge rejected the defence case that the charges against Assange related to actions identical to those undertaken daily by most investigative journalists.
“In doing so, she leaves open the door for a future US administration to confect a similar indictment against a journalist.
“Given his lengthy period of incarceration, it is surely also time to grant Assange bail so that he can join his young family.”