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06-01-2021
LONDON: Julian Assange has been refused bail by a judge who ruled in his favour days ago, by blocking the United States’ attempt to extradite him.
Wednesday’s ruling by District Judge Vanessa Baraitser at London’s Westminster Magistrates Court means the WikiLeaks founder will continue to be held at the capital’s maximum-security Belmarsh prison.
Baraitser on Monday rejected a request from the US authorities for Assange to be sent across the Atlantic to face 18 criminal charges of breaking an espionage law and conspiring to hack government computers.
Assange, 49, an Australian citizen, has been jailed at Belmarsh since he was arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2019 for breaching bail conditions in a separate extradition case involving Sweden.
The US government charges relate to the release by WikiLeaks of hundreds of thousands of confidential US military records and diplomatic cables nearly 10 years ago.
US officials say the leaked material, which exposed wrongdoing in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, put lives in danger, but Assange’s legal team say the case has been politicized.
