Assange Defense Insists Suicide Risk Persists If WikiLeaks Founder Extradited to US

LONDON (Sputnik) – A lawyer for the defense of Julian Assange insisted on Thursday, at the UK High Court hearing on the extradition of the WikiLeaks founder to the United States, that the risk of his client committing suicide if extradited persists.

"There is nothing to suggest that these factors have changed in the least bit with these assurances," lawyer Edward Fitzgerald told the court on the second and final day of the hearing.

The assurances the attorney was referring to were presented on Wednesday by the US prosecutors and related to promises that, if put on trial and sentenced in the United States, Assange would not be incarcerated in the maximum-security prison of Florence (ADX), Colorado, or designated for the so-called Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) applied to dangerous criminals and terrorists.

"The new proffered and conditional assurances do not in fact remove the real risk of detention on SAMs or on ADX," Fitzgerald said, adding that "irrespective of the assurances" given, the district judge would probably have reached the same conclusion.

In January, district judge Vanessa Baraitser refused to hand Assange over to the US Department of Justice on the grounds that due to his mental disorder, which was assessed by an expert, the whistleblower might commit suicide if confined in an American prison. US prosecutors then appealed the ruling.

Assange is wanted by the United States on espionage charges after WikiLeaks published thousands of classified documents that shed light on alleged war crimes committed by American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. If put on trial and convicted in the US, the whistleblower faces up to 175 years in prison.

The British High Court judges will have from four to six weeks to decide whether to uphold the judge's previous ruling against Assange's extradition or overturn her decision. Whatever the ruling, the losing side is likely to appeal it in the British Supreme Court.