LONDON (AP) – A British judge on Monday rejected the United States’ request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face espionage charges, saying he would likely kill himself if kept in harsh prison conditions in the United States. .
District judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled that the extradition would be “oppressive” because of Assange’s mental health.
She said Assange was “a depressed and sometimes desperate man” who had the “intellect and determination” to get around any suicide prevention measures taken by prison authorities.
The US government has said it will appeal the decision. Assange’s lawyers plan to ask for his release from a prison in London, where he has been held for more than a year and a half.
US prosecutors have indicted Assange on 17 counts of spying and one of computer misuse due to the publication of military and diplomatic documents leaked by WikiLeaks a decade ago. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.
The 49-year-old Australian’s lawyers argue that he was acting as a journalist and is entitled to First Amendment protections for freedom of expression by publishing leaked documents that exposed US military irregularities in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The judge, however, said Assange’s actions, if proven, “would amount to crimes in this jurisdiction that would not be protected by his right to freedom of expression”.
But she said Assange suffered from moderate to severe clinical depression, which would be exacerbated by the isolation she was likely to face in US prison.
The defense argued during a three-week hearing in the fall that extradition threatens Assange’s human rights because he risks “a grossly disproportionate sentence” and detention in “draconian and inhumane conditions” that would exacerbate his severe depression and other health problems. mental health.
US government lawyers deny that Assange is being prosecuted just for publishing the leaked documents, saying the case “is largely based on his illegal involvement” in the theft of diplomatic cables and military files by the US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
Assange’s charge was condemned by journalists and human rights groups, who say it undermines freedom of expression around the world.
“The very fact that this case has reached the courts, let alone for so long, is a large-scale historic attack on freedom of expression,” said WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson. “This is a struggle that affects each person’s right to know and is being fought collectively.”
Assange’s legal problems started in 2010, when he was arrested in London at the request of Sweden, who wanted to question him about charges of rape and sexual assault by two women. In 2012, to avoid being sent to Sweden, Assange sought refuge within the Ecuadorian Embassy, where he was out of reach of British and Swedish authorities – but also effectively a prisoner, unable to leave the tiny diplomatic mission in the Knightsbridge area of London. .
The relationship between Assange and his hosts turned sour, and he was evicted from the embassy in April 2019. British police immediately arrested him for jumping bail in 2012.
Sweden abandoned sex crime investigations in November 2019 because too much time had passed, but Assange remains in the maximum security prison in Belmarsh in London, taken to court in a prison van during his extradition hearing.