UK District Judge Vanessa Baraitser on Monday ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will not be extradited to the United States to face espionage charges over the publication of secret American military documents a decade ago.
US prosecutors had indicted Assange on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.
Lawyers for the 49-year-old Australian argued that he was acting as a journalist and is entitled to First Amendment protections of freedom of speech for publishing leaked documents that exposed US military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The defence had argued 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.
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