LONDON: Lawyers for the United States launched a fresh attempt on Wednesday to have Julian Assange extradited from Britain, arguing that concerns about the WikiLeaks founder’s mental health should not prevent him from facing US justice.
The 50-year-old Australian is wanted in the United States on 18 criminal charges, including breaking a spying law, after WikiLeaks published thousands of secret US files and diplomatic cables in 2010.
The United States is appealing against a January 4 ruling by a London district judge that Assange should not be extradited because he would likely commit suicide in a US prison.
Lawyer James Lewis told the court the United States had addressed the district judge’s concerns by making assurances to Britain regarding how Assange would be treated if extradited.
These included that he would not be subject to a set of strict detention conditions known as Special Administrative Measures and would not be detained at a maximum security penitentiary in Florence, Colorado, known as ADX.
The US authorities had also assured Britain that they would consent to Assange serving in Australia any custodial sentence imposed by a US court, Lewis said.