The Justice Department on Monday vowed it would bring WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the U.S. to face trial after a British judge rejected its extradition request.
Although the British judge acknowledged that Mr. Assange would receive a “fair trial” in the United States, she said the move would have a severe, negative impact on his mental health.
A Justice Department spokesman said it would appeal the decision, noting that the British judge accepted its legal arguments.
“While we are extremely disappointed in the court’s ultimate decision, we are gratified that the United States prevailed on every point of law raised,” the spokesman said. “In particular, the court rejected all of Mr. Assange’s arguments regarding political motivation, political offense, fair trial and freedom of speech.
“We will continue to seek Mr. Assange’s extradition to the United States.”
Any appeal likely will take several months as lawyers on both sides grapple with the coronavirus pandemic that has ravaged the U.S. and United Kingdom.
The Justice Department has sought to bring Mr. Assange to the U.S. and put him on trial under the Espionage Act for his role in publishing classified military and diplomatic cables. He is charged with 18 federal crimes, including conspiring to obtain and disclose classified military reports from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
If convicted, he faces 175 years in a maximum-security U.S. prison.
On Wednesday, British Judge Vanessa Baraitser will decide whether to grant the Justice Department’s request to keep Mr. Assange in custody while it appeals her ruling.
Judge Baraitser said that if Mr. Assange is extradited to the U.S., he would be incarcerated alone in a federal prison.
She noted that Mr. Assange has “remained either severely or moderately clinically depressed” during his stay at London’s Belmarsh prison and is considered a suicide risk.
Moving Mr. Assange to the U.S. would increase that risk, she said, adding that he could circumvent anti-suicidal measures at federal prisons.
“I am satisfied that, in these harsh conditions, Mr. Assange’s mental health would deteriorate, causing him to commit suicide with the ’single-minded determination’ of his autism spectrum disorder,” Judge Baraitser wrote.
“I find that the mental condition of Mr. Assange is such that it would be oppressive to extradite him to the United States of America,” she continued.
Judge Baraitser, however, rejected claims by Mr. Assange’s legal team that he is being punished for his political opinions. She also denied claims that he acted as a traditional investigative journalist, saying that his extradition would not compromise protections for members of the media.
Civil rights groups and antiprivacy advocates hailed the ruling.
Edward Snowden, a U.S. fugitive living in Russia who is also wanted on espionage charges, said he hopes the judge’s ruling ends the U.S. effort to extradite Mr. Assange.
“Let this be the end,” he tweeted.
Amnesty International said the ruling was “correct.”
“We welcome the fact that Julian Assange will not be sent to the USA and that the court acknowledged that due to his health concerns, he would be at risk of ill-treatment in the US prison system. But the charges against him should never have been brought in the first place. The charges were politically motivated, and the UK government should never have so willingly assisted the U.S. in its unrelenting pursuit of Assange,” Nils Muiznieks, Amnesty International’s European director, said in a statement.
“The fact that the ruling is correct and saves Assange from extradition does not absolve the UK from having engaged in this politically-motivated process at the behest of the USA and putting media freedom and freedom of expression on trial. It has set a terrible precedent for which the US is responsible and the UK government is complicit,” he continued.
The Justice Department’s efforts to bring Mr. Assange to the United States will appear to face opposition from Mexico.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday that he is prepared to offer asylum to Mr. Assange.
“Assange is a journalist and deserves a chance. I am in favor of pardoning him,” Mr. Lopez Obrador said during a news conference. “We’ll give him protection.”
“I’m going to ask the foreign minister … to ask the government of the United Kingdom about the possibility of letting Mr. Assange be freed and for Mexico to offer political asylum,” he added, praising the WikiLeaks founder for exposing “authoritarian” practices across the globe.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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