LONDON (AP) — Lawyers acting on behalf of the U.S. government have challenged a British judge’s decision to block the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face espionage charges in the United States.
The British judge, Vanessa Baraitser, ruled in January that Assange was likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions.
The U.S. government is appealing. Clair Dobbin, a lawyer who represented U.S. authorities during a High Court preliminary hearing, argued that Assange does not meet the threshold of being “so ill” that he cannot resist harming himself.
U.S. prosecutors have indicted Assange over WikiLeaks’ publication of thousands of leaked documents. Supporters say Assange was a journalist exposing U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
