A British judge ruled on Monday that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should not be extradited to the United States to face criminal charges including breaking a spying law, saying his mental health problems meant he would be at risk of suicide.
US authorities are likely to appeal the decision to London's High Court. Ultimately the case could go to the UK Supreme Court.
The United States accuses Australian-born Assange, 49, of 18 offences relating to the release by WikiLeaks of vast troves of confidential US military records and diplomatic cables which prosecutors said had put lives in danger.
His lawyers argued the entire prosecution was politically motivated, powered by US President Donald Trump's administration, and that Assange's extradition would pose a severe threat to the work of journalists.
While Judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected submissions that extradition should be barred because it would breach Assange's freedom of speech, she said there was a real risk he would commit suicide if he were held in a US maximum security jail.
Assange, she said, suffered at times from severe depression and had been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome and autism. Half a razor blade was found in his London prison cell in May 2019, and he had told medical staff about his suicidal thoughts and made plans to end his life.
"I find that Mr Assange's risk of committing suicide, if an extradition order were to be made, to be substantial," Baraitser said in her ruling, delivered at London's Old Bailey court.
"The overall impression is of a depressed and sometimes despairing man, who is genuinely fearful about his future," she added, saying he had made regular calls from jail to the Samaritans charity.
Wearing a navy suit and a mask, Assange showed little emotion at the ruling.
US prosecutors and Western security officials regard the Australian-born founder of WikiLeaks, as a reckless and dangerous enemy of the state whose actions imperilled the lives of agents whose names were in the material.
The US authorities say more than 100 people were put at risk by the disclosures and about 50 had received assistance, with some fleeing their home countries with their spouses and families to move to the United States or another safe country.-Reuters
