UK Court denies bail to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange

London : A UK Court on Wednesday denied bail to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, directing him to stay in police custody, pending a US appeal of the decision to block his extradition to face charges.

British District Judge Vanessa Baraitser ordered Assange to remain in prison while the courts consider an appeal by U.S. Authorities against a decision not to extradite him.

The 49-year-old Assange has been charged in the US under the Espionage Act for allegedly publishing classified military and diplomatic cables. He has been in jail since 2019.

On Monday, the judge rejected an American request to send Assange to the U.S. to face espionage charges over WikiLeaks publication of secret military documents a decade ago. She denied extradition on health grounds, saying the 49-year-old Australian was likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. Prison conditions.

Assange faces an 18-count indictment from the US government, accusing him of conspiring to hack into US military databases to acquire sensitive secret information relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, which was then published on the Wikileaks website.

According to him, the information exposed abuses by the US military.

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