LONDON (Reuters) – A British judge ruled on Monday that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should not be extradited to the United States to face criminal charges including breaking a spying law, saying his mental health problems meant he would be at risk of suicide.<\/p>\n
The United States accuses Australian-born Assange, 49, of 18 offences relating to the release by WikiLeaks of vast troves of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables which it says put lives in danger.<\/p>\n
U.S. prosecutors are set to appeal Monday\u2019s decision to London\u2019s High Court, and ultimately the case could go to the UK Supreme Court. Assange\u2019s lawyers will seek bail on Wednesday for their client, who has spent most of the last decade either in prison or self-imposed confinement.<\/p>\n
His legal team had argued the entire prosecution was politically motivated, powered by U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s administration, and that Assange\u2019s extradition would pose a severe threat to the work of journalists.<\/p>\n
While Judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected submissions that extradition should be barred because it would breach press freedom or Assange\u2019s freedom of speech, she said there was a real risk he would commit suicide if he were held in a U.S. maximum security jail.<\/p>\n
Assange, she said, suffered at times from severe depression and had been diagnosed with Asperger\u2019s syndrome and autism. Half a razor blade was found in his London prison cell in May 2019, and he had told medical staff about his suicidal thoughts and made plans to end his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI find that Mr. Assange\u2019s risk of committing suicide, if an extradition order were to be made, to be substantial,\u201d Baraitser said in her ruling, delivered at London\u2019s Old Bailey court.<\/p>\n
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