US renews bid to get hold of Assange with request

LONDON－US authorities launched a new battle on Wednesday to make Julian Assange face justice, telling British judges that he could serve any US prison sentence he receives in his native Australia if they agree to extradite the WikiLeaks founder on espionage charges.

In January, a lower UK court refused a US request to extradite Assange over WikiLeaks' publication of secret US military documents a decade ago. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled that Assange, who has spent years in hiding and in British prisons as he fights extradition, is likely to kill himself if held under harsh US prison conditions.

Appealing against the decision at the High Court in London, an attorney for the United States government on Wednesday denied that Assange's mental health was too fragile to withstand the US judicial system. Lawyer James Lewis said Assange "has no history of serious and enduring mental illness" and does not meet the threshold of being so ill that he will harm himself.

US prosecutors have indicted Assange on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over WikiLeaks' publication of thousands of leaked military and diplomatic documents. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison, though Lewis said "the longest sentence ever imposed for this offense is 63 months".

Lewis said the US authorities had promised that Assange would not be held before trial in a top security "Supermax" prison or subjected to strict isolation conditions, and would be allowed to serve his sentence in Australia if convicted. Lewis said the assurances are binding on the US.

"Once there is an assurance of appropriate medical care, once it is clear he will be repatriated to Australia to serve any sentence, then we can safely say the district judge would not have decided the relevant question in the way that she did," he said.

The US also said Michael Kopelman, a neuropsychiatrist and key defense witness, misled the previous judge by omitting to mention that Stella Moris, a member of WikiLeaks' legal team, was also Assange's partner and had two children with him. Lewis said that information was "a highly relevant factor to the question of likelihood to suicide".

Edward Fitzgerald, Assange's lawyer, accused US lawyers of seeking to "minimize the severity of Mr Assange's mental disorder and suicide risk".

In a written submission, Fitzgerald said Australia has not yet agreed to take Assange if he is convicted. Even if Australia did agree, Fitzgerald said the US legal process could take a decade, "during which Mr Assange will remain detained in extreme isolation in a US prison".

Assange, who is being held at London's high-security Belmarsh Prison, had been expected to attend the two-day hearing via video, but Fitzgerald said Assange had been put on a high dose of medication and "doesn't feel able to attend".

Outside court, Assange's partner Stella Moris said she was "very concerned for Julian's health", and called it "completely unthinkable that the UK courts could agree" to extradition. "I hope the courts will end this nightmare, that Julian is able to come home soon and that wise heads prevail," she said.

Agencies Via Xinhua