• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Thursday, January 26, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home World

WikiLeaks Founder Assange Denied Bail Despite US Extradition Block

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
01/06/21
in World
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Photo: AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will have to remain in custody in Britain, pending a US appeal of the decision to block his extradition to face charges for leaking secret documents, a judge in London ruled Wednesday. 

Judge Vanessa Baraitser told Westminster Magistrates Court there were “substantial grounds for believing that if Mr Assange is released today he will fail to surrender” for the appeal hearings.

“Mr Assange still has an incentive to abscond from these as yet unresolved proceedings,” she said. 

“As a matter of fairness the United States must be able to challenge my decision. If Mr Assange absconds during this process then they will have lost the opportunity to do so.”

The US had earlier urged Baraitser not to release the 49-year-old, while it prepares to challenge Baraitser’s decision on mental health grounds to block his extradition to face charges for publishing secret documents.

Lawyer Clair Dobbin, representing the government in Washington, told the court there were “no conditions that could guarantee his surrender” if he were freed from custody.

“The history of his attempts to evade extradition to the United States demonstrated that he is capable of going to any length to avoid that possibility,” she added.

Assange was in court to hear the application and ruling, two days after an unexpected decision Monday to block his removal to the United States on the grounds he was a suicide risk.

Dobbin said the court “should be under no doubt about his resources to abscond”, pointing to his previous flouting of bail conditions, and an offer of political asylum, notably from Mexico.

But Assange’s lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, said he should be freed, after spending 15 months in custody awaiting the extradition proceedings.

“We say after all this time, after the long proceedings over a year… the court has given a decision and the decision has been that he should be discharged,” he added.

Diplomatic refuge

Assange is wanted to face 18 charges relating to the 2010 release by WikiLeaks of 500,000 secret files detailing aspects of military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

Washington claims he helped intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal the 2010 documents before exposing confidential sources around the world. 

He faces a possible 175-year sentence if convicted but Assange and his lawyers have long argued the case against him is politically motivated. 

He has been held at the high-security Belmarsh prison in southeast London. 

A previous request for bail in March on the grounds he was vulnerable to Covid-19 while behind bars was rejected because the judge assessed he was likely to abscond. 

Assange sought sanctuary in Ecuador’s embassy in 2012, after Sweden issued an arrest warrant in connection with sexual assault allegations. 

He spent seven years at the South American country’s London mission until the government in Quito revoked his citizenship. 

British police dragged him out and arrested him in 2019. 

He was then sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail terms in connection with the Swedish case, which was later dropped due to lack of evidence. 

The UN called the sentence “disproportionate”.

‘Criminalizing’ journalism

Assange’s long-running legal woes have become a cause celebre for media freedom, even though the judge hearing the case said he did have a case to answer.

Baraitser on Monday said he would have been “well aware” of the effects of his leaking of secret documents, and his actions went “well beyond” the role of a journalist. 

But she said extradition would be “oppressive” as his mental health would probably deteriorate in the US penal system, “causing him to commit suicide”. 

She rejected US experts’ testimony that Assange would be protected from self-harm, noting that others such as disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein had managed to kill themselves in custody despite supervision. 

UN rapporteur on torture Nils Melzer cautiously applauded the decision to block his extradition, and said he should be freed and compensated for his ordeal, which amounted to arbitrary detention. 

#UK: UN expert @NilsMelzer welcomes British court’s refusal to extradite Wikileaks founder #JulianAssange to US on basis that he would be exposed to “oppressive” conditions of imprisonment that would almost certainly cause him to commit suicide.
Read 👉 https://t.co/oG2dMKMqBR

— UN Special Procedures (@UN_SPExperts) January 5, 2021

But he said Baraitser had effectively confirmed the rationale behind the US case, which “effectively amounts to criminalising national security journalism”. 

The United States has called the ruling “extremely disappointing” and has faced calls from WikiLeaks, as well as rights and media freedom groups to drop the appeal. 

ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

Ghislaine Maxwell
National

British Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell Convicted Over Epstein Sex Ring

by Staff Writer
December 29, 2021
UK unemployment
Business

UK Unemployment Dips Despite End of Virus Jobs Scheme

by Staff Writer
December 14, 2021
cricket
Featured

‘A Cultural Thing’: Cricket Defines British-Indian Identity

by Staff Writer
September 2, 2021
Migrant boat
Refugees

80 Migrants Rescued in English Channel Trying to Reach UK

by Staff Writer
June 18, 2021
Astrazeneca logo
World

Severe Allergy Added to AstraZeneca Vaccine Side Effects: EU Regulator

by Staff Writer
March 12, 2021
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
Media Freedom

Rights Groups Urge Biden Administration to Drop Assange Case

by Staff Writer
February 9, 2021
Next Post
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

UK Slams 'Disgraceful Scenes' at Capitol by Trump Supporters

Demonstrators breached security and entered the US Capitol

China Goes Online to Mock 'Beautiful Sight' of US Capitol Chaos

Recommended

The Doomsday Clock reads 100 seconds to midnight, a decision made by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, during an announcement at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on January 23, 2020

‘Doomsday Clock’ Moves Closest Ever to Midnight

January 25, 2023
Police work near the scene of a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California

California Lunar New Year Mass Shooter Dead, Motive Unclear: Police

January 23, 2023
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

Race on To Replace Ardern as New Zealand Prime Minister

January 20, 2023
Pfizer logo and vaccines

Pfizer to Sell More Drugs at Cost to Poor Nations

January 18, 2023
Rescuers inspect the wreckage at the site of a Yeti Airlines plane crash in Pokhara, Nepal

At Least 67 Killed in Nepal Plane Crash

January 16, 2023
George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023

Opinion

George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023
Commuters waiting for buses in Metro Manila. Philippines

Eight Billion and Counting…

November 29, 2022
Mahsa Amini protests

Imagining a Free Iran

October 24, 2022
Vladimir Putin

How 18th Century International Law Clarifies the Situation in Ukraine

September 29, 2022
Vladimir Putin

Falling for Putin

September 15, 2022
US President Donald Trump

Donald Trump Thanks You for Your Sacrifice

August 17, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post