Julian Assange cannot be extradited to US, British court rules

A court verdict on whether Julian Assange should be obtained from London to the United States to face espionage attacks arrived today morning, and the court stated Assange could not be extradited to the United States of America.

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser gave her ruling from the Old Bailey at 11 am CET — although this did not signal the end of the long-running saga.

The US has long pressured to extradite the 49-year-old to face 17 charges of hacking, espionage, and of computer abuse about writing secret military experiences of wrongdoing as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

His defense team placed the argument that the case has been politically motivated and that their client must be protected under the First Amendment of the US Constitution — protections that refer to freedom of speech and the press.

The team also argued that Assange is experiencing from strange health issues that were found during his 7-year-long stint in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and could further go in a bad shape by prison circumstances in the US.

Julian Assange spent almost 7 years in the Ecuadorian Embassy to avoid another extradition request but has been in Belmarsh prison since 2019.

Assange fled to the embassy in 2012, skipping the bail on different extradition request regarding a rape charge in Sweden. In April 2019, he was evicted and sent to Belmarsh prison - where he has been ever since. Sweden dropped the rape case against him in November 2019.

According to the Australian's lawyers, their client was diagnosed with autism spectrum disease during his occupancy at the embassy and would be at intensified risk of suicide if placed in solitary imprisonment in the US.

It is believed, if extradited and sentenced, Assange would be placed in the ADX Supermax prison in Colorado, which also had Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.