UK decide refuses US extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

Image Source : AP FILE – In this May 19, 2017 file picture, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange greets supporters exterior the Ecuadorian embassy in London, the place he has been in self imposed exile since 2012. Judge Vanessa Baraitser has dominated that Julian Assange can’t be extradited to the US. due to considerations about his psychological well being, it was reported on Monday, Jan. 4, 2021. Assange had been charged below the US’s 1917 Espionage Act for “unlawfully obtaining and disclosing classified documents related to the national defence”.
A British decide on Monday rejected the United States’ request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face espionage expenses, saying he was prone to kill himself if held below harsh U.S. jail situations.
In a combined ruling for Assange and his supporters, District Judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected protection arguments that the 49-year-old Australian faces a politically motivated American prosecution that rides roughshod over free-speech protections. But she mentioned Assange’s precarious psychological well being would probably deteriorate additional below the situations of “near total isolation” he would face in a U.S. jail.
“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,” the decide mentioned.
She mentioned Assange was “a depressed and sometimes despairing man” who had the “intellect and determination” to bypass any suicide prevention measures taken by American jail authorities.
The U.S. authorities mentioned it could enchantment the choice. Assange’s legal professionals mentioned they might ask for his launch from a London jail the place he has been held for greater than a 18 months at a bail listening to on Wednesday.
Assange, who sat quietly within the dock at London’s Central Criminal Court for the ruling, wiped his forehead as the choice was introduced. His associate Stella Moris, with whom he has two younger sons, wept.
Outside courtroom, Moris mentioned the ruling was “the first step towards justice,” but it surely was not but time to have a good time.
“I had hoped that today would be the day that Julian would come home,” she mentioned. “Today is not that day, but that day will come soon.”
The ruling marks a dramatic second in Assange’s years-long authorized battles in Britain — although probably not its last chapter.
It’s unclear whether or not the incoming Biden administration will pursue the prosecution, initiated below President Donald Trump.
Assange’s American lawyer, Barry Pollack, mentioned the authorized workforce was “enormously gratified” by the British courtroom’s determination.
“We hope that after consideration of the U.K. court’s ruling, the United States will decide not to pursue the case further,” he mentioned.
Moris urged Trump to pardon Assange earlier than he leaves workplace later this month.

“Mr. President, tear down these prison walls,” she mentioned. “Let our little boys have their father.”
U.S. prosecutors have indicted Assange on 17 espionage expenses and one cost of laptop misuse over WikiLeaks’ publication of leaked army and diplomatic paperwork a decade in the past. The expenses carry a most sentence of 175 years in jail.
Lawyers for Assange argue that he was performing as a journalist and is entitled to First Amendment protections of freedom of speech for publishing paperwork that uncovered U.S. army wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lawyers for the U.S. authorities denied that Assange was being prosecuted merely for publishing, saying the case “is in large part based upon his unlawful involvement” within the theft of the diplomatic cables and army information by U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
The British decide sided with U.S. legal professionals on that rating, saying Assange’s actions, if confirmed, would “amount to offenses in this jurisdiction that would not be protected by his right to freedom of speech.” She additionally mentioned the U.S. judicial system would give him a good trial.
The protection additionally argued throughout a three-week listening to within the fall that Assange risked “a grossly disproportionate sentence” and detention in “draconian and inhumane conditions” if he was despatched to the United States,
The decide agreed that U.S. jail situations could be oppressive. She accepted proof from skilled witnesses that Assange had a depressive dysfunction and an autism spectrum dysfunction.
“I accept that oppression as a bar to extradition requires a high threshold. … However, I am satisfied that, in these harsh conditions, Mr. Assange’s mental health would deteriorate causing him to commit suicide with the ‘single minded determination’ of his autism spectrum disorder,” the decide mentioned in her ruling.
The prosecution of Assange has been condemned by journalists and human rights teams, who say it undermines free speech around the globe.
They welcomed the decide’s determination, though it was not made on free-speech grounds.
“This is a huge relief to anyone who cares about the rights of journalists,” The Freedom of the Press Foundation tweeted.
Assange’s authorized troubles started in 2010, when he was arrested in London on the request of Sweden, which needed to query him about allegations of rape and sexual assault made by two girls. In 2012, Assange jumped bail and sought refuge contained in the Ecuadorian Embassy, the place he was past the attain of U.Okay. and Swedish authorities — but in addition successfully a prisoner, unable to go away the tiny diplomatic mission in London’s tony Knightsbridge space.
The relationship between Assange and his hosts ultimately soured, and he was evicted from the embassy in April 2019. British police instantly arrested him for breaching bail in 2012.
Sweden dropped the intercourse crimes investigations in November 2019 as a result of a lot time had elapsed, however Assange has remained in London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison all through his extradition listening to.
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