U.K. judge denies bail for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
Jessica Schladebeck
A British judge has denied bail for Julian Assange, requiring the controversial WikiLeaks founder to remain jailed inside a high-security prison while the courts mull an appeal to extradite him to the United States.
District Judge Vanessa Baraister concluded in her Wednesday decision that the 49-year-old Australian “has an incentive to abscond” and cast doubt on whether he would return to court if granted the opportunity to go free. His legal team argued that he was no longer a flight risk, but Baraister ordered he remain in custody at HMP Belmarsh in Southeast London.
The latest development in the ongoing saga came just days after Baraitser ruled the WikiLeaks founder could not be legally extradited to face espionage charges in the United States over concerns about his mental health and suicide.
“As a matter of fairness, the US must be allowed to challenge my decision and if Mr. Assange absconds during this process they will lose the opportunity to do so,” Baraitser said. “Mr. Assange still has a huge support network available to him should he again choose to go to ground.”
Assange’s decades-long legal drama has garnered worldwide attention, with activists condemning the U.S. case as politically motivated and an attack on press freedom.
Assange’s legal team has argued that Baraitser’s blocking of his extradition had “changed everything”.
“It certainly changes any motive to abscond rather than to continue to pursue his remedies within this country and with confidence in the due process in this country,” his attorney, Ed Fitzgerald, told Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
“‘I discharge you from this extradition request’ should mean he should at least regain his conditional liberty.”
Fitzgerald said Assange wanted a “sheltered life” with his family, adding it would be his first opportunity to live with his children since he holed up at the Ecuador embassy years ago.
The high-profile defendant has already served a 50-week sentence at the London prison for violating bail conditions back in 2012, when he entered Ecuador’s London embassy in a bid to dodge extradition to Sweden. He’d been wanted in the nation at the time for questioning in two cases of rape and sexual assault.
Stella Moris girlfriend of Julian Assange is escorted by police after speaking to the media outside the Old Bailey in London on Monday, Jan. 4, 2021. A British judge has rejected the United States' request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face espionage charges, saying it would be "oppressive" because of his mental health. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser said Assange was likely to commit suicide if sent to the U.S. The U.S. government said it would appeal the decision.
Julian Assange supporters celebrate after a ruling that he cannot be extradited to the United States outside the Old Bailey in London on Monday, Jan. 4, 2021.
This is a court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Julian Assange appearing at the Old Bailey in London for the ruling in his extradition case, on Monday, Jan. 4, 2021.
This is a court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook, showing District Judge Vanessa Baraitser delivering her verdict in Julian Assange's extradition case at the Old Bailey court in London on Monday, Jan. 4, 2021.
Wikileaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson speaks to the media after a ruling that said Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the United States, outside the Old Bailey in London on Monday, Jan. 4, 2021.
Editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, Kristinn Hrafnsson from Iceland, left, and father of Julian Assange, John Shipton, speak to the media in London on Monday, Sept. 7, 2020. Lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the U.S. government were squaring off in a London court on Monday at a high-stakes extradition case delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. American prosecutors have indicted the 49-year-old Australian on 18 espionage and computer misuse charges over the WikiLeaks publication of secret U.S. military documents a decade ago. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.
Supporters of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and members of the media gather at the exit to the Old Bailey as a van believed to be carrying Assange leaves following his appearance at the resumption of his extradition trial hearing on Sept. 7, 2020, in London, England. Assange, who has been in Belmarsh Prison for 16 months, is wanted in the U.S. over the publication of classified documents in 2010 and 2011.
British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, center, with her head covered, poses for photos during a protest to support Julian Assange outside the Central Criminal Court Old Bailey in London, England on Monday, Sept. 7, 2020.
Julian Assange supporters protest outside the Old Bailey in London, England on Monday, Sept. 7, 2020.
Julian Assange's girlfriend Stella Moris, right, and his lawyer Jennifer Robinson walk after a lunch break towards the court in London on Monday, Sept. 7, 2020. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is set to fight for his freedom after a decade of legal drama, as he challenges American authorities' attempt to extradite him on spying charges over the site's publication of secret U.S. military documents.
Supporters of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange gather outside the Old Bailey as he appears in court at the resumption of his extradition trial hearing on Sept. 7, 2020, in London, England.
A woman holds up a photograph of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during a protest demanding the freedom of Assange in front of the UK embassy in Brussels, Belgium on Monday, Sept. 7, 2020.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (L) appeared in court Monday to fight extradition to the United States on charges of espionage, with the full extradition hearing set for February 2020.
A courtroom artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook shows Julian Assange as he appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on Monday, Oct. 21, 2019, for a hearing related to his extradition to the United States.
Supporters of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange demonstrate outside Westminster Magistrates' Court in London where Assange is expected to appear as he fights extradition to the United States on charges of conspiring to hack into a Pentagon computer, in London, Monday, Oct. 21, 2019.
U.S. authorities accuse Assange of scheming with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to break a password for a classified government computer.
Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange leaves Southwark Crown Court in a security van after being sentenced on May 1, 2019 in London, England.
British police arrive and guard the Ecuadorian Embassy as protesters in support of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange demonstrate outside the embassy on May 20, 2019, in London, the same day Swedish authorities issued a request for a detention order against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is now jailed in Britain, a Swedish prosecutor said.
Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning speaks with reporters on May 16, 2019, outside federal court in Alexandria, Va. prior to being sent back to jail again for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury investigating WikiLeaks.
Barrister Jennifer Robinson and Editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks Kristinn Hrafnsson speak to the media outside Southwark Crown Court after Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange was sentenced on May 1, 2019 in London, England. Assange, 47, was got 50 weeks in prison for breaching his bail conditions when he took refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations, charges he denies.
Following the sentencing on May 1, 2019, the UK will now decide whether to extradite Julian Assange to the U.S. to face conspiracy charges after his whistle-blowing website Wikileaks published classified US documents.
Protesters demonstrate in support of Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange outside Southwark Crown Court where he was sentenced on May 1, 2019 in London, England.
Julian Assange flashes a peace sign, handcuffs visible around his wrists, to the media from a police vehicle during his arrival at Westminster Magistrates court on April 11, 2019 in London, England. After weeks of speculation, the Wikileaks founder was arrested by Scotland Yard Police Officers inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in Central London on Thursday morning.
Ecuador's President, Lenin Moreno, withdrew Assange's Asylum after seven years citing repeated violations to international conventions. Assange was also charged with conspiring with activist Chelsea Manning.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy where he continues to seek asylum following an extradition request from Sweden in 2012, on February 5, 2016 in London, England. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has insisted that Mr Assange's detention should be brought to an end.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange introduces M.I.A. via videolink from the Ecuadorian embassy in London at Terminal 5 on November 1, 2013 in New York.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (r.) shake hands with Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino after a press conference, where he confirmed he "will be leaving the embassy soon", in the Ecuadorian Embassy on August 18, 2014 in London, England. Assange has been living in the embassy since June 2012 in an attempt to avoid extradition to Sweden where he faces allegations of sexual assault.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange walks with his lawyer Jennifer Robinson as he arrives at Belmarsh Magistrates' Court on February 24, 2011 in London, England. Assange returned to court to hear their decision on Sweden's attempt to extradite him from the UK to Sweden.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange holds a CD containing data given by former Swiss banker Rudolf Elmer (not pictured) following a press conference in London, on January 17, 2011. Swiss whistleblower Rudolf Elmer handed over to Assange two CDs containing data of around 2,000 bank clients who may have been evading taxes, according to an interview published that Sunday.
A detail from the Interpol website showing the appeal for the arrest of the editor-in-chief of the Wikileaks whistleblowing website, Julian Assange on December 6, 2010.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (C) holds a press conference at Park Plaza Hotel on October 23, 2010 in London, England. A series of new leaks of American military documents, nearly 400,000 in total, have been released by the whistleblowing website, Wikileaks. The files detail how the torture and the abuse of detainees by Iraqi police, was ignored by US forces.
Julian Assange of the WikiLeaks website holds up a copy of The Guardian newspaper as he speaks to reporters in front of a Don McCullin Vietnam war photograph at The Front Line Club on July 26, 2010 in London, England. The WikiLeaks website has published 90,000 secret US Military records. The Guardian and The New York Times newspapers and the German Magazine Der Spiegel have also published details.
The relationship between Assange and his hosts at the embassy eventually soured, however, and he was booted from the building in April 2019. British police immediately arrested him for breaching bail.
Sweden later dropped the sex crimes investigations in November 2019 because so much time had elapsed, but Assange has remained in prison throughout his extradition hearing.
In April 2019, the U.S. charged the controversial publisher with “conspiracy to commit computer intrusion,” a count that carries a maximum sentence of five years.
Just one month later, the federal government hit Assange with an additional 17 counts under the Espionage Act. They argued that the case goes beyond press freedom, and “is in large part based upon his unlawful involvement” in the theft of the diplomatic cables and military files by whistleblower and former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
If convicted, Assange could be sentenced to up to 175 years in jail.
