Mr Assange, who wore a blue suit and green face mask in the dock, closed his eyes as the judge read out her ruling on Monday.
His fiancee Stella Moris, with whom he has two young sons, wept and was
comforted by Wikileaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson, who sat next to her
in court.
If convicted in the US, Mr Assange faces a possible penalty of up to 175 years
in jail, his lawyers have said. However the US government said the sentence was
more likely to be between four and six years. Mr Assange faces an 18-count
indictment from the US government, accusing him of conspiring to hack into US
military databases to acquire sensitive secret information relating to the
Afghanistan and Iraq wars, which was then published on the Wikileaks website. He
says the information exposed abuses by the US military. But US prosecutors say
the leaks of classified material endangered lives, and so the US sought his
extradition from the UK. Extradition is the process under which one country can
ask another to hand over a suspect to face trial. Following the judge's ruling,
several politicians gave their reaction. "Good news Julian Assange's extradition
has been blocked," said Conservative MP David Davis on Twitter. "Extradition
treaties should not be used for political prosecutions." Former shadow home
secretary Diane Abbott called it an "excellent ruling". "Congratulations to all
the dogged campaigners on Assange's behalf," she added. Journalist and
documentary maker John Pilger, who has been a vocal campaigner for Mr Assange,
also tweeted that it was "wonderful", adding the UK ruling was a "face-saving
cover for the British to justify their disgraceful political trial of Assange on
America's behalf". Mr Assange was jailed for 50 weeks in May 2019 for breaching
his bail conditions after going into hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
He sought refuge in the embassy for seven years from 2012 until he was arrested
in April 2019. At the time he fled to the embassy, he had been facing
extradition to Sweden on allegations of sexual assault which he denied. That
case was later dropped.
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