ASSANGE DODGES EXTRADITION BID
Depressed WikiLeaks founder could kill himself if he’s sent to tough American jail where Abu Hamza is held, says judge
JULIAN ASSANGE dramatically won his fight against extradition to the US yesterday on the grounds that he could kill himself in an American prison like Jeffrey Epstein did.
District judge vanessa Baraitser said if the WikiLeaks founder was convicted it is likely he would be held at the same maximum security facility in Colorado as terrorist Abu Hamza – and the US authorities would be unable to prevent him taking his own life.
Assange, wearing a blue suit, closed his eyes and sat back in his chair in the dock at the Old Bailey as the judgement was handed down.
And the news soon reached hundreds of his supporters outside the court, who began whooping and cheering.
The US Department of Justice has vowed to appeal against the decision and continue the fight to have the Australian extradited and tried on 18 counts of espionage and computer hacking.
Judge Baraitser told the court there was a ‘real risk’ Assange would be locked up in the Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in Florence, Colorado, if convicted of hacking US government computers and disseminating classified material that endangered lives. He would join nine other inmates currently subject to special administrative measures inside the prison who are kept isolated and cut off from contact with family, she said.
She accepted the evidence of consultant neuropsychiatrist Dr Quinton Deeley that Assange, 49, suffers from high-functioning autism and Asperger’s syndrome.
‘Notwithstanding the strong and constant support he received from his family and friends, Mr Assange has remained either severely or moderately clinically depressed throughout his detention at HMP Belmarsh,’ the judge said.
Professor Michael Kopelman, who had assessed Assange, said the Australian had told him he thought about suicide ‘hundreds of times a day,’ had made a confession to a Roman Catholic priest and called the Samaritans almost every night from prison.
Assange had cut himself on several occasions, and in May 2019 half a razor blade was found hidden in a cupboard in his cell underneath his underpants. Judge Baraitser said he was ‘a depressed and sometimes despairing man, who is genuinely fearful about his future’.
Lawyers for Assange, led by Edward Fitzgerald QC, had argued that the case brought against him had been politically motivated and it was impossible to prove whether the disclosure of thousands of classified files in 2010 and 2011 had endangered US sources. They claimed he faced up to 175 years in prison if found guilty in the US. The US alleges the theft and disclosure of the identities of informants working for the US security agencies endangered their lives.
Judge Baraitser systematically dismissed each of the arguments made by Assange’s legal team, including the claim that he would not receive a fair trial in the US.
But she cited the case of paedophile Epstein, who was found hanged in custody in New York in August 2019, and said she was satisfied that suicide prevention measures would not be enough to keep Assange from taking his own life in a US jail.
‘I find that the mental condition of Mr Assange is such that it would be oppres
‘Confession to a priest’ ‘US prevailed on every point of law’
sive to extradite him to the United States of America,’ she said.
A US Justice Department spokesman said: ‘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.
‘In particular, the court rejected all of Mr Assange’s arguments regarding political motivation, political offence, fair trial, and freedom of speech.
‘We will continue to seek Mr Assange’s extradition to the United States.’
Assange’s fiancee Stella Moris, 37 – the mother of two boys named Max and Gabriel who he fathered while holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy – said she was concerned the US government would not give up. Assange has been in Belmarsh prison since April 2019 when he was removed from the Ecuadorian embassy, where he had been since 2012.
Yesterday’s ruling means he can now make a fresh application for bail, which will be heard at Westminster Magistrates Court tomorrow, though his release is viewed as unlikely.