WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange denied bail by UK court

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been denied bail, a U.K. court ruled on Wednesday, and will remain in prison while lawyers for the U.S. government try to secure his extradition from Britain.

Baraitser told the court: “I am satisfied that there are substantial grounds for believing that if Mr Assange is released today he will fail to surrender to the court to face the appellant proceedings.”

The decision marks a defeat for Assange’s legal team, which had been celebrating a ruling earlier this week against the United States’ attempt to extradite him. WikiLeaks said it would appeal against the denial of bail.

On Monday at the Old Bailey, Baraitser said if Assange were sent across the Atlantic to face 18 criminal charges of breaking an espionage law and conspiring to hack government computers, he would be at risk of suicide.

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.

Assange had remained in the high-security Belmarsh prison in southeast London pending the latest hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in central London.

Good morning. I’ll have updates on Julian Assange’s bail hearing on this thread today. The hearing takes place at 10 am GMT at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London. @RSF_inter calls again for Assange’s immediate release.#FreeAssange 1/

— Rebecca Vincent (@rebecca_vincent) January 6, 2021

His lawyers tried to get him released in March on the grounds that he was at risk from COVID-19. Judges then rejected that argument, saying Assange could skip bail if released.

The WikiLeaks founder was arrested in 2019 after seeking sanctuary at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012. He was holed up there for years after Sweden issued an arrest warrant in connection with sexual assault allegations.

British police dragged Assange out of the embassy in April 2019 after Ecuador revoked his citizenship. He was arrested for breaching his bail terms in connection with the Swedish case, which was later dropped due to lack of evidence.

A court handed him a 50-week jail term, but Assange has remained in prison pending the conclusion of the American extradition request. The UN called the sentence “disproportionate.”

Disappointment over bail refusal

“This is a huge disappointment,” Stella Morris, Assange’s partner told reporters outside court on Wednesday.

“Julian should not be in Belmarsh Prison in the first place. I urge the Department of Justice to drop the charges and the President of the United States to pardon Julian.”

Rebecca Vincent, Director of International Campaigns at NGO Reporters without Borders called the court’s decision to refuse bail “unnecessarily cruel.”