Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, cannot be extradited to the US, the judge decides

LONDON – A British judge ruled on Monday that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, one of the world’s most notorious whistleblowers, cannot be extradited to the U.S.

Judge Vanessa Baraitser said the extradition would be oppressive due to Assange’s mental health.

“The general impression is of a depressed and sometimes desperate man, who is genuinely afraid of his future,” wrote Baraitser in his decision. “For all these reasons, I think the risk that Mr. Assange will commit suicide, if an extradition order is issued, is substantial.”

The US is expected to appeal the decision within the allocated two-week deadline.

Assange is wanted in the US for publishing hundreds of thousands of classified military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010 and 2011. He is wanted for 18 charges, 17 of which fall under the US Espionage Act.

His health deteriorated while he was being held in a UK prison.

The United States specifically accused him of conspiring with Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to crack a password known as a “hash” to access a classified US Department of Defense computer and expose military secrets.

Assange’s supporters argue that the United States is targeting him for political reasons after his journalism exposed alleged war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as human rights abuses.

If the 49-year-old Australian is extradited and convicted in the United States, he could be sentenced to 30 to 40 years in prison, his lawyers said. His mother, Christine Assange, said on Twitter that he will not survive if he is extradited. Prosecutors said he would face a maximum of five and a half years behind bars.

Assange’s lawyers said in a final written petition to Baraitser that the charge was politically motivated “during a unique period in the history of the United States under (President Donald) Trump’s administration”.

The legal team representing the United States said federal prosecutors are prohibited from considering political opinion when making their decisions.

The U.S. Department of Justice issued a new indictment in June, alleging that Assange conspired with members of hacker organizations and tried to recruit hackers at conferences in Europe and Asia that could provide WikiLeaks with confidential information.

Assange’s lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, tried to delay the hearing, arguing in August that the prosecution came too late for his team to analyze it and respond appropriately. James Lewis represented the US authorities.

Fitzgerald said he had not seen Assange face to face in six months, partly due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the BBC. However, an attempt to discard the new charges was unsuccessful.

Speaking of a glass box in August, Assange said he did not consent to extradition.

The hearing lasted four weeks, with dozens of witnesses summoned to testify.

WikiLeaks published a US military video in 2010, showing an Apache helicopter attack in 2007 in Baghdad that killed a dozen people. He then published thousands of secret military documents and diplomatic cables.

Soon after, Sweden tried to extradite Assange from Britain for alleged sexual crimes. When he lost his case in 2012, he fled to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and applied for asylum.

Assange was arrested at the embassy in April 2019 for violating his bail conditions and has since been held in the high-security prison in Belmarsh in south-east London.

Assange’s partner, Stella Moris, told PA Media in the summer that her partner’s health was getting worse.

“This is an attack on journalism,” she said. “If he is extradited to the United States for publishing inconvenient truths about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, that will set a precedent, and any British journalist or publisher could also be extradited in the future.”

Moris launched a crowdfunding campaign last month to pay Assange’s legal fees. More than £ 175,000 ($ 239,000) has been pledged.