Assange to remain in London prison

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser denied bail to WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange, ordering him to remain in London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison while the nation’s courts decide whether he will be sent to the United States to face espionage charges.

Baraitser said Assange “has an incentive to abscond” and there is a good chance he would fail to return to court if freed.

On Monday, she rejected an American request to send Assange to the U.S. to face spying charges over WikiLeaks’ publication of secret military documents a decade ago. She denied extradition on health grounds, saying the 49-yearold Australian likely would kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions.

He has been held in London since hewas arrested in April 2019 for skipping bail during a separate legal battle seven years earlier.