London: A UK judge rejected the US request to extradite Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, to face charges of spying. The court has said that given Assange’s mental state, allowing him to be extradited would be “torture”.
District Judge Vanissa Bariteser said Monday that Assange could commit suicide if he was sent to the United States. The US government has said that it will appeal against this decision. US prosecutors have accused Assange of 17 counts of espionage, while one is also accused of misuse of a computer. The maximum sentence on these charges is 175 years imprisonment. The charges relate to the publication of military and diplomatic documents leaked a decade ago by Wikileaks.
Lawyers for the 49-year-old citizen of Australia have argued that since he was working as a journalist, he is entitled to protection under the freedom of expression to publish documents. These documents contain information about alleged wrongdoings by US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The judge rejected the defense’s claim that Assange is protected by the guarantee of expression. He said that if his conduct was proved, it would be a crime in this jurisdiction that would not be protected by his right to freedom of expression. But the judge said Assange is suffering from clinical depression, which will be exacerbated by being isolated. He is likely to be kept separately in the US jail.
The judge said Assange had “intelligence and determination” that could thwart the steps taken by authorities to prevent suicide. Earlier, Assange’s legal team accused the US of conducting a politically motivated prosecution in which attempts were made to obtain and publish information related to national security as a crime. On the other hand, US government lawyers have denied that the prosecution against Assange is being conducted only to publish leaked documents, but rather the bulk of the case on illegal involvement in stealing diplomatic cables (dialogues) and military files. is based.
Assange’s troubles began when he was arrested in London in 2010 at the request of Sweden. Sweden wanted to interrogate Assange on allegations of rape and sexual harassment by two women. Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012 to avoid being sent to Sweden. In this way he became out of the reach of the official of Britain and Sweden.
On coming out of the embassy in April 2019, the British Police arrested him for fleeing on bail. Sweden withdrew sexual harassment allegations in November 2019 because it took too long. But Assange remained in a London jail and was brought to court from a prison van to hear the extradition case.
