Judge spares suicide-prone Assange extradition to US

A BRITISH judge ruled yesterday that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should not be extradited to the US to face charges of violating the Espionage Act, because he is at extreme risk of suicide.

British Magistrate Vanessa Baraitser said the defense had provided compelling evidence that Assange suffers from severe depression, that he has written a will, sought absolution from a priest and a razor blade was found hidden in his cell at Belmarsh prison in London.

Assange is charged with 18 federal crimes, including conspiring to obtain and disclose hundreds of thousands of pages of secret government documents, including classified diplomatic cables and sensitive military reports from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which were released through the WikiLeaks website and also directly to journalists.

Prosecutors want Assange flown by US marshals to Northern Virginia to face the charges, which expose him to 175 years in a maximum-security prison.

US prosecutors will likely appeal to the High Court.

That is a process that could take several months - perhaps even longer because of Assange’s poor health and the soaring outbreak of coronavirus in Britain, which has the capital city on near-lockdown.As part of the extradition case, prosecutors indicated that they have considered the First Amendment implications of the case and possible responses, including that as an Australian citizen Assange is not protected by US free speech protections.

Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer who regularly represents whistleblowers, argued that Assange is so far outside the world of journalism in his motives and behaviour that his case has no implications for the mainstream press. “They are anarchists whose intent is to undermine the United States and other democracies,” he said of Assange and his followers.

He noted that the Pentagon Papers decision left the door open to prosecution of reporters.

Assange supporters say the charges against the WikiLeaks founder create a “slippery slope” that could lead to more prosecutions of journalists.

Zaid said that possibility already exists. “It has been well-known for decades that the U.S. government could prosecute journalists and publishers for possessing and publishing classified information, and it has always chosen not to,” he said.