The 'Classified' Case of the USA versus Julian Assange

On January 4, 2021, many people celebrated outside the Old Bailey, the Central Criminal Court in London after a British judge ruled in its 132-page judgement that WikiLeaks founder Julian Paul Assange should not be extradited to the United States. Owen Jones claimed, “this ruling by District Judge Vanessa Baraitser is a victory, albeit one not won on the principled grounds that should form the basis of opposing his extradition.” The legal issues raised before the court included that “the UK-US Extradition Treaty prohibits extradition for a political offence; the allegations do not meet the ‘dual criminality’; extradition would be oppressive by reason of the lapse of time; and because it would be unjust and oppressive by reason of Mr. Assange’s mental condition”, among others. The judgement said, Assange has a “recurrent depressive disorder”, and he was likely to be imprisoned where procedures would not prevent him “from finding a way to commit suicide.” What lies ahead with Assange and why did he end up in such a terrible situation in the first place?