Lawyer Wikileaks Founder Assange Insists on Ill Health

The defence of London-imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has reiterated that his mental health condition will not allow him to be extradited to the United States.

At the beginning of this year, an English judge rejected the US extradition request because conditions in US prisons could lead to suicide attempts, according to psychiatrists from Assange.

The US has appealed this to an English court. They believe that the suspect can handle a trial in the US. They have promised that the 50-year-old Australian Assange will not end up in a maximum-security prison and that he may also serve his possible prison sentence in Australia.

Assange is accused of espionage and spreading state secrets. As a result, there are a lot of charges against him, and he faces a total of up to 175 years in prison.

The judges will announce when they will make a ruling at the end of Thursday’s hearing. That could take weeks. If the US wins, the case will go back to a lower court and possibly go to the Supreme Court afterwards.

According to British media, the chance that Assange will be released during the proceedings is very small. In 2012, he violated the conditions for his release in another case in England and was, therefore, a flight risk. He then fled into the Ecuadorian embassy, where he stayed for years. However, he may very well be released on parole if it later turns out that US defence attorneys appealed unsuccessfully this week.