UK judges have handed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a major blow, granting the US the right to extradite him to face charges.
US authorities have won their bid to overturn a judge’s ruling that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should not be extradited to face charges in the United States.
The 50-year-old Australian has been charged in the US under the Espionage Act for his role in publishing classified military and diplomatic cables.
Washington brought the challenge after a lower court judge in London ruled on January 4 that Assange would be a suicide risk in the US justice system.
Assange, who denies any wrongdoing, was not in court during the hearing.
District Judge Vanessa Baraitser denied extradition on health grounds, saying Assange was likely to kill himself if held under harsh US prison conditions
In appealing that decision at the High Court in London, a lawyer for the US government denied that Assange’s mental health was too fragile to withstand the US judicial system.
Lawyer James Lewis said Assange “has no history of serious and enduring mental illness” and doesn’t meet the threshold of being so ill that he can’t resist harming himself.
Assange’s lawyer Mark Summers however also raised a report that alleged that in 2017 the CIA had considered killing or kidnapping Assange.
Mr Summers said that the report showed there was a risk the CIA could use its powers to certify that Assange should be subjected to Special Administrative Measures “the moment he sets foot in the USA”.
The CIA has declined to comment on the report, and lawyers representing the United States did not address it during their submissions to the court.
US authorities have said Assange could serve any US prison sentence he receives in Australia.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne has revealed that Julian Assange has rejected the Australian government’s attempts to contact him, allegedly ignoring the government’s calls on 29 occasions.
“I have consistently sought to assure myself of Mr. Assange’s position in terms of the legal processes to which he is subject,” Senator Payne said. “I have consistently encouraged my consular staff to engage on his case and to seek to provide him with consular assistance or assistance with medical support.
US prosecutors indicted Assange on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over WikiLeaks’ publication of thousands of leaked military and diplomatic documents.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison, although Mr Lewis said “the longest sentence ever imposed for this offense is 63 months.”
Assange is being held at London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison and is likely to appeal the decision.
He recently won the right to marry his long-term partner Stella Morris.
WikiLeaks captured headlines in 2010 by publishing vast troves of confidential US records which Washington said put lives in danger.
Not long afterwards, Sweden sought Assange’s extradition from Britain over allegations of sex crimes.
He was ordered to be sent to Sweden in 2012, but instead fled to the Ecuadorean embassy in London and lived there for seven years.
He was dragged out in April 2019 and jailed for breaching his British bail conditions, although the Swedish case against him had been dropped.
Originally published as UK court rules Julian Assange can be extradited to the US
Credit: Source link
