WikiLeaks' Assange denied bail by London court

Assange has spent more than eight years either holed up in the London’s Ecuadorean embassy or in jail.

But Assange on Monday won an attempt to stop his extradition to the United States to face 18 criminal charges of breaking an espionage law and conspiring to hack government computers. He had then asked to be bailed.

“I am satisfied that there are substantial grounds for believing that if Mr Assange is released today he would fail to surrender to court to face the appeal proceedings,” Judge Vanessa Baraitser said.

The US Department of Justice says it will continue to seek Assange’s extradition.

“As far as Mr Assange is concerned this case has not yet been won... the outcome of this appeal is not yet known,” Baraitser said.

Admirers hail Australian-born Assange as a hero for exposing what they describe as abuses of power by the United States. But detractors cast him as a dangerous figure who has undermined the security of the West, and dispute that he is a journalist.

WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables that laid bare often critical U.S. appraisals of world leaders, from Russian President Vladimir Putin to members of the Saudi royal family.

Assange made international headlines in early 2010 when WikiLeaks published a classified US military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters that killed a dozen people in Baghdad, including two Reuters news staff.

WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of secret US diplomatic cables that laid bare often critical US appraisals of world leaders, from Russian President Vladimir Putin to members of the Saudi royal family.

Assange made international headlines in early 2010 when WikiLeaks published a classified U.S. military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters that killed a dozen people in Baghdad, including two Reuters news staff.

In June 2012, Assange fled to London’s Ecuadorean embassy after losing his bid to prevent extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning over alleged sex crimes.

He remained in the embassy, living in confined conditions, until being dragged out in April 2019. Although the Swedish case against him had been dropped by then, he was jailed for breaching British bail conditions and his supporters forfeited sureties of £93,500 ($127,076).

He has remained behind bars after completing his jail term pending the outcome of the US extradition case, which would include any appeal by the United States. Baraitser has previously refused him bail, saying he remained a flight risk.

Assange’s partner Stella Moris, with whom he had two children while holed up in the embassy, said they could not celebrate as long as he was still in prison.

“We will celebrate the day he comes home,” she said.

Assange’s lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said on Monday that the extradition ruling cast a new light over the bail decision. But Nick Vamos, lawyer at London-based firm Peters & Peters and former head of extradition at Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service, said he expected his bid not to succeed.

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