DOJ is 'extremely disappointed' in UK decision NOT to extradite Assange as No.1 campaigner Pamela Anderson celebrates prospect of the WikiLeaks founder being freed this WEEK
The Department of Justice on Monday said it is ‘extremely disappointed’ in the UK court’s decision not to extradite Julian Assange.
A British judge on Monday rejected the United States' request to extradite the Wikileaks founder to face espionage charges, saying he was likely to kill himself if held under harsh US prison conditions. The US has said it will appeal the decision.
In a statement to ABC a spokesperson for the DOJ said: 'While we are extremely disappointed in the court's ultimate decision, we are gratified that the United States prevailed on every point of law raised.
'In particular, the court rejected all of Mr. Assange's arguments regarding political motivation, political offense, fair trial, and freedom of speech.'
Assange's friend Pamela Anderson said Monday the ‘fight is not over’, telling her followers to 'stay tuned'. The sensational ruling at the Old Bailey in London raises the prospect that the 48-year-old WikiLeaks founder could be freed this week.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald said the decision was 'not a victory for press freedom' and whistleblower Edward Snowden called for an end to the legal proceedings against the Wikileaks founder.
Actress Anderson tweeted: 'A special sunrise for my dear friend #JulianAssange - (not to be extradited) stay tuned, the fight is not over - but, a hopeful moment to breathe in- I can only imagine Julian (in court, still in that mask), taking that breath.. #humanrights #freespeech #pardonassange.'
Assange's friend Pamela Anderson said Monday the ‘fight is not over’. She is pictured taking a vegan lunch to Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in July 2017 in London
Anderson tweeted this Monday morning following the news that a British judge had rejected the United States' request to extradite Assange to face espionage charges
The WikiLeaks founder today (when he is pictured) won his high-profile legal battle against US officials who wanted to put him on trial for helping hack government computers and violating an espionage law by releasing confidential cables
Greenwald on Monday praised the UK's decision to not extradite Julian Assange to America - but warned: 'This wasn't a victory for press freedom.'
The reporter, who worked with Snowden, hailed the decision 'great news', but warned: 'This wasn't a victory for press freedom. Quite the contrary: the judge made clear she believed there are grounds to prosecute Assange in connection with the 2010 publication.
'It was, instead, an indictment of the insanely oppressive US prison system for security 'threats.'
Snowden - the whistleblower who worked with Wikileaks and is currently living in Russia after leaking U.S. surveillance secrets - called for an end to the proceedings, tweeting: 'Let this be the end of it.'
He had earlier thanked 'everyone who campaigned against one of the most dangerous threats to press freedom in decades'. He also shared a number of retweets about the decision.
Glenn Greenwald, left, and Edward Snowden, right, on Monday both reacted to the news that british judge HAD rejected the US' request to extradite Assange to face espionage charge
Glenn Greenwald on Monday praised the United Kingdom's decision to not extradite Julian Assange to America - but warned: 'This wasn't a victory for press freedom'
Snowden - the whistleblower who worked with Wikileaks and is currently living in Russia after leaking U.S. surveillance secrets - called for an end to the proceedings
Greenwald, part of a team that won a Pulitzer for reports about government surveillance programs based on leaks by Snowden added: 'Ultimately, though, from a humanitarian *and* a political perspective, what matters most is that Assange be freed as soon as possible.
'The US Govt doesn't care what prison he's in, or why: they just want him silenced and in a cage. He should be freed immediately.'
District Judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected allegations that Assange is being prosecuted for political reasons or would not receive a fair trial in the US.
But she said his precarious mental health would likely deteriorate further under the conditions of 'near total isolation' he would face in U.S. prison.
'I find that the mental condition of Mr. Assange is such that it would be oppressive to extradite him to the United States of America,' the judge said.
Julian Assange arrives at Westminster Magistrates Court in London in September last year
She said Assange was 'a depressed and sometimes despairing man' who had the 'intellect and determination' to circumvent any suicide prevention measures taken by American prison authorities.
Assange's lawyers said they would ask for his release from a London prison where he has been held for more than a year-and-a-half at a bail hearing on Wednesday.
Assange, who sat in the dock at London's Central Criminal Court for the ruling, wiped his brow as the decision was announced. His partner Stella Moris, with whom he has two young sons, wept.
His American lawyer, Barry Pollack, said the legal team was 'enormously gratified by the U.K. court's decision denying extradition.'
'The effort by the United States to prosecute Julian Assange and seek his extradition was ill-advised from the start,' he said. 'We hope that after consideration of the U.K. court's ruling, the United States will decide not to pursue the case further.'
Assange supporters celebrating outside the Old Bailey today after he was spared from being sent for trial in the United States
The ruling marks a dramatic moment in Assange's years-long legal battles in Britain — though likely not its final chapter.
U.S. prosecutors have indicted Assange on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over WikiLeaks' publication of leaked military and diplomatic documents a decade ago. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.
Lawyers for the 49-year-old Australian argue that he was acting as a journalist and is entitled to First Amendment protections of freedom of speech for publishing leaked documents that exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The judge, however, said Assange's actions, if proven, would 'amount to offenses in this jurisdiction that would not be protected by his right to freedom of speech.'
The defense also argued during a three-week hearing in the fall that extradition threatens Assange's human rights because he risks 'a grossly disproportionate sentence' and detention in 'draconian and inhumane conditions' that would exacerbate his severe depression and other mental health problems.
The judge agreed that U.S. prison conditions would be oppressive. She accepted evidence from expert witnesses that Assange had a depressive disorder and an autism spectrum disorder.
'I accept that oppression as a bar to extradition requires a high threshold. ... However, I am satisfied that, in these harsh conditions, Mr. Assange's mental health would deteriorate causing him to commit suicide with the 'single minded determination' of his autism spectrum disorder,' the judge said in her ruling.
Lawyers for the U.S. government deny that Assange is being prosecuted merely for publishing the leaked documents, saying the case 'is in large part based upon his unlawful involvement' in the theft of the diplomatic cables and military files by U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
The prosecution of Assange has been condemned by journalists and human rights groups, who say it undermines free speech around the world.
They welcomed the judge's decision, even though it was not made on free-speech grounds.
'This is a huge relief to anyone who cares about the rights of journalists,' The Freedom of the Press Foundation tweeted:
'The extradition request was not decided on press freedom grounds; rather, the judge essentially ruled the U.S. prison system was too repressive to extradite. However, the result will protect journalists everywhere.'
Assange's fiancee Stella Moris, seen outside the Old Bailey today, has said that sending her lover to the US would be an 'unthinkable travesty'
Assange's legal troubles began in 2010, when he was arrested in London at the request of Sweden, which wanted to question him about allegations of rape and sexual assault made by two women.
In 2012, to avoid being sent to Sweden, Assange sought refuge inside the Ecuadorian Embassy, where he was beyond the reach of U.K. and Swedish authorities — but also effectively a prisoner, unable to leave the tiny diplomatic mission in London's tony Knightsbridge area.
The relationship between Assange and his hosts eventually soured, and he was evicted from the embassy in April 2019. British police immediately arrested him for jumping bail in 2012.
Sweden dropped the sex crimes investigations in November 2019 because so much time had elapsed, but Assange remains in London's high-security Belmarsh Prison, brought to court in a prison van throughout his extradition hearing.
Timeline: Julian Assange's long legal battle
2006
Assange creates Wikileaks with a group of like-minded activists and IT experts to provide a secure way for whistleblowers to leak information. He quickly becomes its figurehead and a lightning rod for criticism.
2010
March: U.S. authorities allege Assange engaged in a conspiracy to hack a classified U.S. government computer with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
July: Wikileaks starts releasing tens of thousands of top secrets documents, including a video of U.S. helicopter pilots gunning down 12 civilians in Baghdad in 2007. What followed was the release of more than 90,000 classified US military files from the Afghan war and 400,000 from Iraq that included the names of informants.
August: Two Swedish women claim that they each had consensual sex with Assange in separate instances when he was on a 10-day trip to Stockholm. They allege the sex became non-consensual when Assange refused to wear a condom.
First woman claims Assange was staying at her apartment in Stockholm when he ripped off her clothes. She told police that when she realized Assange was trying to have unprotected sex with her, she demanded he use a condom. She claims he ripped the condom before having sex.
Second Swedish woman claims she had sex with Assange at her apartment in Stockholm and she made him wear a condom. She alleges that she later woke up to find Assange having unprotected sex with her.
He was questioned by police in Stockholm and denied the allegations. Assange was granted permission by Swedish authorities to fly back to the U.K.
November: A Swedish court ruled that the investigation should be reopened and Assange should be detained for questioning on suspicion of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion. An international arrest warrant is issued by Swedish police through Interpol.
Wikileaks releases its cache of more than 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables.
December: Assange presents himself to London police and appears at an extradition hearing where he is remanded in custody. Assange is granted conditional bail at the High Court in London after his supporters pay £240,000 in cash and sureties.
2011
February: A British judge rules Assange should be extradited to Sweden but Wikileaks found vows to fight the decision.
April: A cache of classified U.S. military documents is released by Wikileaks, including intelligence assessments on nearly all of the 779 people who are detained at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.
November: Assange loses High Court appeal against the decision to extradite him.
2012
June: Assange enters the Ecuadorian embassy in London requesting political asylum.
August: Assange is granted political asylum by Ecuador.
2013
June: Assange tells a group of journalists he will not leave the embassy even if sex charges against him are dropped out of fear he will be extradited to the U.S.
2015
August: Swedish prosecutors drop investigation into some of the sex allegations against Assange due to time restrictions. The investigation into suspected rape remains active.
2016
July: Wikileaks begins leaking emails U.S. Democratic Party officials favoring Hillary Clinton.
November: Assange is questioned over the sex allegation at the Ecuadorian Embassy in the presence of Sweden's assistant prosecutor Ingrid Isgren and police inspector Cecilia Redell. The interview spans two days.
2017
January: Barack Obama agrees to free whistleblower Chelsea Manning from prison. Her pending release prompts speculation Assange will end his self-imposed exile after Wikileaks tweeted he would agree to U.S. extradition.
April: Lenin Moreno becomes the new president of Ecuador who was known to want to improve diplomatic relations between his country and the U.S.
May: An investigation into a sex allegation against Assange is suddenly dropped by Swedish prosecutors.
2018
January: Ecuador confirms it has granted citizenship to Assange following his request.
February: Assange is visited by Pamela Anderson and Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel.
March: The Ecuadorian Embassy suspends Assange's internet access because he wasn't complying with a promise he made the previous year to 'not send messages which entailed interference in relation to other states'.
August: U.S. Senate committee asks to interview Assange as part of their investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.
September: Assange steps down as editor of WikiLeaks.
October: Assange reveals he will launch legal action against the government of Ecuador, accusing it of violating his 'fundamental rights and freedoms'.
November: U.S. Justice Department inadvertently names Assange in a court document that says he has been charged in secret.
2019
January: Assange's lawyers say they are taking action to make President Trump's administration reveal charges 'secretly filed' against him.
April 6: WikiLeaks tweets that a high level Ecuadorian source has told them Assange will be expelled from the embassy within 'hours or days'. But a senior Ecuadorian official says no decision has been made to remove him from the London building.
April 11: Assange has his diplomatic asylum revoked by Ecuador and he is arrested by the Metropolitan Police; he is remanded in custody by a judge at Westminster Magistrates Court.
April 12: He is found guilty of breaching his bail terms.
May 1: Sentenced to 11 months in jail.
May 2: Court hearing takes place over Assange's proposed extradition to the U.S. He tells a court he does not consent to the extradition and the case is adjourned until May 30.
May 13: Swedish prosecutors reopen rape case saying they still want to question Assange.
June 3: Swedish court rules against detaining him in absentia, setting back the extradition case.
June 12 Home Secretary Sajid Javid signs an extradition request from the US.
June 13 A hearing sets out the date for Assange's full extradition hearing - February next year.
November Swedish prosecutors stop investigation into an allegation of rape against Mr Assange
November 25 - Medics say without correct medical care Assange 'could die' in Belmarsh
December 13 - Hearing in London hears he is being blocked from seeing key evidence in case
December 19 - Appears at Westminster Magistrates' Court via video-link where his lawyer claims US bid to extradite him is 'political'.
2020
February 24 -Assange faces an extradition hearing at Woolwich Crown Court.
Assange's representatives argue he cannot legally be handed to the US for 'political offences' because of a 2003 extradition treaty.
March 2 - Assange appears by video link at Westminster Magistrates' Court, where he is refused bail amid the coronavirus crisis.
April 11 - Stella Moris, Assange's partner, who gave birth to his two children while he was living inside the Ecuadorian embassy, issues a plea for his release amid fears for his health.
June 24 - The US Department of Justice issues an updated 18-count indictment, over Assange's alleged role in 'one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States'.
August 25 - Ms Moris visits her partner in Belmarsh prison for the first time in almost six months.
September 7 - Assange's extradition hearings resume at the Old Bailey. They are expected to go on for up to four weeks.
October 1 - Judge Vanessa Baraitser adjourned the case at the Old Bailey until January 4.
January 4 - Judge Baraitser strikes down US extradition bid.