Scott Morrison says Julian Assange will be 'free to return home to Australia' once his legal proceedings in the UK are over - after a judge blocked his extradition to the US

 Prime Minster Scott Morrison has declared Julian Assange will be free to return to Australia once his legal battle in the United Kingdom is over.

A British judge on Monday ruled the Wikileaks founder - who was born in Townsville, Queensland in 1971 - cannot be extradited to the US to face spying charges due to the risk of him taking his own life in an American jail.

US officials wanted to put him on trial for conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law by releasing top secret documents about US military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The US government is expected to appeal the decision but if that appeal also lands in Assange's favour then he will be a free man after almost ten years in prison or self-imposed confinement.

Mr Morrison avoided passing judgement on the decision but said Assange would be able to travel home if he his freed.

'I note the decision overnight and like any other Australian I understand that's subject to appeal... assuming that all turns out, he's like any other Australian, he's free to return home to Australia if he wishes,' Mr Morrison told 3AW radio.

'Consular support has been offered to Assange... it's a matter for him [if he returns] when proceedings and processes end,' the prime minister added. 

Julian Assange has won his 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. He is sketched at the Old Bailey on Monday

Julian Assange has won his 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. He is sketched at the Old Bailey on Monday

Assange is still wanted on 18 charges in the US - with a maximum 175 years in jail - relating to the 2010 release by WikiLeaks of 500,000 secret files detailing military campaigns.

His legal team argued that the US effort to extradite him was launched under pressure from Donald Trump's administration, and that his extradition would pose a severe threat to press freedom.

But it was only the risk he would commit suicide if he were held in a US maximum security jail that led Judge Vanessa Baraitser to reject the extradition request.

She said Assange suffered at times from severe depression and had been diagnosed with autism. Half a razor blade was found in his London prison cell in May 2019, and he had told medical staff of suicidal thoughts and made plans to end his life.

A US Justice Department spokesman said on Monday: '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.... We will continue to seek Mr Assange's extradition to the United States.'  

In court in London, Assange sat in a blue suit with crossed legs and wiped his brow after the decision was announced, while his fiancee, Stella Moris - with whom he has two young sons - wept.

Ms Moris, who fell in love with Assange while she was his lawyer, said outside the Old Bailey: 'Today is a victory for Julian. Today's victory is a first step towards justice in this case.'


Assange's supporters cheered and hugged outside the Old Bailey after the judge revealed she was blocking his extradition

Assange's supporters cheered and hugged outside the Old Bailey after the judge revealed she was blocking his extradition

She also issued a direct appeal to President Trump, which references President Ronald Reagan's 1987 appeal to Soviet lead Mikhail Gorbachev to 'tear down' the Berlin Wall. 'Mr President tear down these prison walls,' she said. 'Let our little boys have their father. Free Julian. Free the press.'

Assange's defence team, including celebrity barrister Jennifer Robinson, will return to the Old Bailey on Wednesday for a bail application. If they successful, he could be a free man immediately afterwards.

However, this is thought to be unlikely given the US government's intent to appeal. They have 14 days to state their grounds, during which time Assange will stay on remand at HMP Belmarsh in south-west London.

Had Assange been convicted in the US, he would have been held in isolation at the notorious Supermax jail in Colorado, which has been described by a former warden as a 'clean version of hell' and a 'fate worse than death'.

Judge Vanessa Baraitser said there was an 'unmanageable high risk' of Assange taking his own life if he was housed amid the grim conditions as she revealed he has autism, Asperger's and a severe depressive disorder.

She accepted the evidence of medical experts who revealed that Assange had spoken openly about suicide while in Belmarsh and had prepared for it by writing a will.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's partner, Stella Moris, speaks to the media outside the Old Bailey in London on Monday

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's partner, Stella Moris, speaks to the media outside the Old Bailey in London on Monday


Meanwhile, Mexico offered political asylum to Mr Assange on Monday afternoon. The country's president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said: 'I'm going to ask the foreign minister to carry out the relevant procedures to request that the UK government releases Mr Assange and that Mexico offers him political asylum.'

He said Mexico would ensure 'that whoever receives asylum does not intervene or interfere in the political affairs of any country.' The country has previously offered political asylum to high-profile international figures such as former Bolivian president Evo Morales.

Mr Assange's supporters were overjoyed at the decision not to extradite him to the United States but expressed dismay that the ruling was made on health grounds rather than in defence of freedom of expression. 

The activist has been backed by a raft of celebrities including Pamela Anderson, artist Al Weiwei and designer Dame Vivienne Westwood.  

Assange's mother, Christine urged the US not to appeal, saying her son had suffered enough. 

She tweeted: 'UK Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled against extraditing my son Julian to the US on medical grounds.

'US prosecutors state they will appeal. I implore Pres Trump & Pres elect Biden to order them to stand down. The decade long process was the punishment. He has suffered enough.'    

Conservative MP David Davis said: 'Good news Julian Assange's extradition has been blocked. Extradition treaties should not be used for political prosecutions.'

Former UK Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose brother, Piers, was outside the Old Bailey today, said: 'Good news that the extradition of Julian Assange has been refused - my congratulations to him and his legal team. Extradition would be an attack on press freedom.

'And it is alarming that the judge has accepted US government arguments threatening freedom of speech and freedom to publish. There remains much at stake in his case, which is being observed by so many around the world. Assange should be released.'  

But the journalist Glenn Greenwald added a note of caution, saying the judge had endorsed most of the arguments put forward by the US in favour of extradition - including dismissing the idea that it was an attack on freedom of speech. 

He said: '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.' 

Meanwhile, Edward Snowden - the whistleblower who worked with Wikileaks and is currently living in Russia after leaking US surveillance secrets - called for an end to the proceedings, tweeting: 'Let this be the end of it.' 

Amnesty International tweeted: 'We welcome the fact that Julian Assange will not be sent to the USA, but this does not absolve the UK from having engaged in this politically-motivated process at the behest of the USA and putting media freedom and freedom of expression on trial.' 

Assange, 49, faces an 18-count indictment, alleging a plot to hack computers and a conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information

Assange, 49, faces an 18-count indictment, alleging a plot to hack computers and a conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information 

Assange supporters celebrating outside the Old Bailey today after he was spared from being sent for trial in the United States

Assange supporters celebrating outside the Old Bailey today after he was spared from being sent for trial in the United States  


Judge Baraitser ruled that Assange risked being held under Special Administrative Measures (Sams), which would have seen him in solitary confinement with limited access to family and only two phone calls per month.

She said: 'Faced with the conditions of near total isolation without the protective factors which limited his risk at HMP Belmarsh, I am satisfied the procedures described by the US will not prevent Mr Assange from finding a way to commit suicide and for this reason I have decided extradition would be oppressive by reason of mental harm and I order his discharge.

'Despite his lighter spirit at times, he's a depressed and sometimes despairing man who is genuinely fearful of his future. He represents an unmanageable high risk of suicide, both in Belmarsh and the US.'

She revealed that in 1991 Mr Assange had tried to take his own life and that there was a history of depression in the family.

His maternal grandmother and uncle both died by suicide, and Assange phoned the Samaritans most nights while in jail. 

Mr Assange had been charged under the US's 1917 Espionage Act for conspiring with Chelsea Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst, to hack into a Pentagon computer network and publish secret documents related to 'national defence.'

The WikiLeaks founder faced a total of 18 charges and was also accused of putting the lives of US informants at risk by publishing the material.

Assange has been locked in a bitter dispute with US authorities since July 2010 when WikiLeaks started publishing hundreds of thousands of classified US military and political documents from the Afghan and Iraq wars.

As US officials pursued him through the British courts, in June 2012, Assange entered the Ecuadorian embassy, requesting political asylum, which was granted two months later.

Assange remained holed up at the embassy until April 2019 when Ecuador revoked his asylum status, leading to his arrest and kickstarting a legal battle that culminated in today's judgment.

During his time in the embassy, the WikiLeaks founder fathered two children with his partner Stella Morris.

For the past 19 months, Assange has been held at Belmarsh top security jail.

He first appeared at the Old Bailey last February, but the case was pushed back because of the coronavirus pandemic.

If Assange had stood trial in the US, he faced a possible 175 years in prison if convicted of all charges.

The controversial WikiLeaks founder has attracted a number of high-profile supporters including Pamela Anderson and Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel, who visited him at the Ecuadorian embassy.

Others to have lent their support include the artist Al Weiwei and designer Dame Vivienne Westwood.

Assange was represented at his Old Bailey trial last year by eminent lawyer Jennifer Robinson.

The court head extraordinary details of the lengths US authorities were prepared to go to ensure that Assange stood trial in the country.

This included hiring a US security contractor to bug Assange's meetings in the Ecuadorian embassy and even a possible kidnap or poison plot to end the stalemate.

Judge Baraitser heard that if convicted, Assange faced the prospect of being held in a Supermax ADX facility in Colorado, where convicted terrorist Abu Hamza has been housed under Sams in solitary confinement.

Psychiatrists for the defence said Assange had suffered from severe depression and was a high suicide risk.

But lawyers for the US Government claimed that the prospect of Assange being held under Sams was 'speculative' and the sentence was likely to be much lower.

Chelsea Manning had been sentenced to 35 years over her role in leaking classified material but was given clemency after seven years.

However, she was jailed again for contempt in 2019 and fined for refusing to testify in court about Assange.   

Stella Moris, the mother of Julian Assange's children, Max and Gabriel (pictured left and right) this weekend said Britain 'would no longer be a haven for free speech' if he was extradited

Stella Moris, the mother of Julian Assange's children, Max and Gabriel (pictured left and right) this weekend said Britain 'would no longer be a haven for free speech' if he was extradited

A prison van - most likely carrying Assange - is seen coming into the Old Bailey for today's hearing 

Scott Morrison says Julian Assange will be 'free to return home to Australia' once his legal proceedings in the UK are over - after a judge blocked his extradition to the US Scott Morrison says Julian Assange will be 'free to return home to Australia' once his legal proceedings in the UK are over - after a judge blocked his extradition to the US Reviewed by CUZZ BLUE on January 05, 2021 Rating: 5

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