Julian Assange Hasn't Been Released Yet

In January 2020, a British court blocked a request from the United States to extradite Assange where he would have expected to face adjudication by a US court. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser held that although US prosecutors had met the tests for Assange to be extradited for trial, the US was unable in preventing him from attempting suicide, twice mentioning the alleged suicide of Jeffery Epstein, and thus could not be extradited on health grounds.

Julian Assange, who is the founder of WikiLeaks, is being held on espionage and hacking charges for publicly disclosing 391,832 classified documents between 2010 and 2011 pertaining to US military logs from Afghanistan and Iraq. The leaks were the single largest cache in US military history, exposing widespread civilian casualties and evidence of war crimes in the region. The whistle-blower faces a sentence of up to 175 years if imprisoned on the charges, which his lawyers have claimed to be a politically motivated case. The US authorities have 14 days in which to lodge an appeal where they are expected to do so.

The case raises several concerns of journalists’ safety and media freedom where there has been mixed international reactions including Amnesty International, which has welcomed the ruling, whilst condemning British authorities for “having engaged in a politically-motivated process at the behest of the USA and putting media freedom and freedom of expression on trial.”

Following the verdict, Assange is to return to Belmarsh Prison in south-east London, where he is being held. He is set to appear in court again on Wednesday for a new bail application to determine whether he can be released pending the continuation of his trial, which US authorities have expressed their intention to oppose.

The verdict of blocking the extradition request only means that he will stand trial in the UK rather than the US. After analyzing the claims, Misbar has found the assertion that Assange has been released from prison to be false.