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Julian Assange to remain in UK for now after court blocks US extradition request

A London judge ruled that extradition would be oppressive because of Assange's health, saying he was a depressed man genuinely fearful about his future.

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London: A London judge said Julian Assange shouldn’t be sent to the U.S. to face espionage charges, a relief for the Wikileaks founder who’s spent close to a decade in jail or self-imposed exile.

Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled that extradition would be oppressive because of the 49-year-old Assange’s health, saying he was clearly “a depressed and sometimes despairing man genuinely fearful about his future.” Lawyers for the U.S. immediately said they would appeal.

He will likely be “housed in conditions of significant isolation,” in the U.S., with curtailed contact with family and forbidden contact with other inmates, the judge said.

The judge dismissed Assange’s arguments that prosecutors faced political pressure to send him to the U.S. and that he couldn’t receive a fair trial there.

The decision will be a surprise to the Australian’s supporters, who have openly been pinning their hopes on a pardon from U.S. President Donald Trump. Assange’s fiancée, Stella Moris, has spent the last few months making direct pleas for clemency to Trump via Twitter and appearances on Fox News.

Assange initially sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 rather than face questioning in a Swedish sexual assault case, which was later dropped. Last year, when he was expelled from the embassy, he faced American charges related to WikiLeaks disclosures.

Assange is accused of working with U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to get classified documents from databases containing about 90,000 Afghanistan war-related activity reports, 400,000 Iraq war-related reports and 250,000 State Department cables. –Bloomberg


Also read: Sexual assault & 7 years in asylum — the saga of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange


 

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