Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the United States to face charges of espionage and hacking, a British judge has ruled.
District judge Vanessa Baraitser delivered the ruling at the central criminal court on Monday, saying the extradition would be “oppressive” due to his mental health.
She said the 49-year-old would be a suicide risk in US custody.
“Faced with conditions of near total isolation … I am satisfied that the procedures will not prevent Mr Assange from finding a way to commit suicide,” Judge Baraitser said.
She said if detained in the US, Mr Assange “faces the bleak prospect of severely restrictive detention conditions designed to remove physical contact and reduce social interaction and contact with the outside world to a bare minimum”.
Australian-born Mr Assange faced 18 charges in the US relating to the 2010 release by WikiLeaks of 500,000 secret files detailing aspects of military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Mr Assange’s lawyers had argued the entire prosecution was politically-motivated, powered by US President Donald Trump and that his extradition posed a severe threat to the work of journalists.
The US Government has 15 days to appeal against the ruling.
