The United States asked Britain’s High Court on Wednesday to overturn a judge’s decision that Julian Assange should not be sent to the United States to face espionage charges, promising that the WikiLeaks founder could serve any prison sentence he receives in his native Australia.
In January, a lower court judge refused an American request to extradite Assange on spying charges over WikiLeaks’ publication of secret military documents a decade ago.
District Judge Vanessa Baraitser denied extradition on health grounds, saying Assange was likely to kill himself if held under harsh US prison conditions.
An attorney for the US government, James Lewis, argued Wednesday that the judge was wrong to conclude that Assange’s mental health was too fragile to withstand the US judicial system.
Assange “has no history of serious and enduring mental illness” and does not meet the threshold of being so ill that he cannot resist harming himself, the lawyer said.
