Julian Assange gestures to the media from a police vehicle on his arrival at the Westminster Magistrates court on April 11, 2019 in London, England.
Jack Taylor | Getty Images
LONDON – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been denied bail by a London court.
The decision comes after a decision on Monday saying the 49-year-old Australian cannot be extradited to the U.S.
“I am convinced that there are substantial reasons to believe that if Assange is released today, he will not surrender to court to face the appeal process,” said judge Vanessa Baraitser, according to Reuters.
He is currently being held at HMP Belmarsh, in south east London, for skipping bail on an earlier occasion.
U.S. officials want to accuse Assange of spying after he published hundreds of thousands of classified military documents and diplomatic cables on WikiLeaks in 2010 and 2011.
Baraitser said on Monday that the extradition would be oppressive due to Assange’s mental health and warned that he could commit suicide.
“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.”