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Despite a judge ruling against his extradition to the US, Julian Assange remains in jail in London.(AP: Frank Augstein)
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In a ruling that was more than a decade in the making, a UK court has refused a US request that WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange be extradited to the United States to face 18 charges, including espionage.
Judge Vanessa Baraitser refused the request on the basis of Assange's mental condition and risk of suicide.
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WikiLeaks then released hundreds of thousands of US military messages and cables in a leak that saw former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning jailed.
In the decade since then, Assange has been embroiled in legal drama and political controversy.
He spent most of that time holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London to escape being extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault in a case that has since been dropped.
But that changed in April 2019 when the Ecuadorian government withdrew its asylum and invited Scotland Yard in to arrest him for failing to surrender to the court.
He was found guilty, and in May 2019 was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching bail conditions.
During that time the US Justice Department brought 18 charges against him.
Why does the US Government want to extradite Assange?
The charges against Assange were brought by the Department of Justice under outgoing President Donald Trump's administration, but he had long feared he would be handed over to US authorities if he went to Sweden during the investigation into sexual assault allegations, which led to him seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy.
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After his arrest and removal from the embassy, he was charged with a federal count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for his alleged role in what the US called "one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States".
The US applied for his extradition, and in June 2019 outlined a further 17 charges against Assange relating to the Espionage Act.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of 170 years in prison.
US prosecutors say Assange conspired with Manning to hack into government computers to acquire the classified information that was later published by WikiLeaks.
Julian Assange has been accused of conspiring with Chelsea Manning to crack a defence department password.(AP: Alastair Grant)
The US says by releasing the documents and files Assange endangered lives, damaged national security and aided its adversaries.
Assange has always maintained the information exposed abuses by the US military, and that he was acting as a journalist and is therefore entitled to protection by the US's First Amendment.
Why did the judge refuse the extradition order?
Assange's legal team argued during extradition hearings that the entire case was brought on by pressure from the Trump administration, and that Assange's extradition would pose a severe threat to press freedom.
But it was only the real risk he would commit suicide if he were held in a US maximum security jail that led Judge Baraitser to reject the extradition request.
Judge Baraitser rejected Assange's lawyers' arguments that the case was political and an assault on journalism and freedom of speech, saying there was insufficient evidence that prosecutors had been pressured by Trump's team and little evidence of hostility from the US President.
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Assange will have to remain in London's Belmarsh Prison until at least Wednesday, when a bail application will be made at Westminster Magistrates Court.
US prosecutors have also indicated they would appeal the decision, which could take the matter to London's High Court and eventually the UK's Supreme Court, meaning it could drag on for many more months.
"We will continue to seek Mr Assange's extradition," a US Department of Justice statement said.
Will Donald Trump grant a pardon?
Julian Assange's family have begun directly pleading with Trump to issue a pardon before he leaves the White House later this month.
Assange's fiancée, Stella Morris, made a direct plea to the President after the court's ruling, fearing US authorities would continue to pursue him.
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Julian Assange's fiancee calls for Donald Trump to drop extradition case.
"I call on the President of the United States to end this now: Mr President, tear down these prison walls, let our little boys have their father," she said.
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Assange's mother, Christine, also called on Mr Trump and president-elect Joe Biden.
"I implore Pres Trump & Pres elect Biden to order (US prosecutors) to stand down," she tweeted.
"The decade long process was the punishment. He has suffered enough."
Trump has given a flurry of pardons in the past few weeks to people ranging from jailed former associates to military contractors convicted of a massacring civilians in Iraq, but it remains to be seen if he has any desire to add the WikiLeaks founder to that list.
Where is Assange likely to end up?
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said "like any other Australian", Assange could return home "if he wished" once legal proceedings were over.
"Assuming that that all turns out, he's like any other Australian, he'd be free to return home if he wished and he's going through those processes," Mr Morrison said on 3AW radio.
"Consular support has consistently been offered to Mr Assange. That would be a matter for him when those proceedings and those processes end."
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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador offers asylum to Julian Assange.
Meanwhile, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has offered Assange political asylum in the wake of the UK court's verdict.
Mr Lopez Obrador said he wanted his foreign minister to ask Britain if it could release Assange so Mexico could offer him asylum.
"We'll give him protection."
A UK court has refused to extradite Julian Assange to face charges in the US. What happens now?
WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange remains in London's Belmarsh Prison after a UK court refuses a US request that he be extradited to the United States to face 18 charges, including espionage.
www.abc.net.au
