Day: January 4, 2021

A British judge rejected the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to face charges, including espionage. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser said Monday at London's Old Bailey Court that Assange was likely to commit suicide if sent to the U.S. The judge also ordered him discharged. The U.S. government lawyers said they would appeal the decision. The U.S. had requested extradition of Australian-born Assange. 49, on 17 espionage charges and one charge of misusing computers in connection with WikiLeaks’ 2010 and 2011 publication of thousands of confidential U.S. cables, mainly relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Those charges would carry life in prison for Assange, since altogether they amount to 175 years behind bars. Assange's lawyers,...

Iranian state television has acknowledged that Tehran seized a South Korean-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. The report on Monday alleged that the MT Hankuk Chemi had been stopped by Iranian authorities over alleged “oil pollution” in the Persian Gulf and the strait. The semiofficial Fars news agency said the naval forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had seized the ship. Satellite data from MarineTraffic.com showed the MT Hankuk Chemi off the port of Bandar Abbas on January 4 without explanation. It had been traveling from Saudi Arabia to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. The ship’s owners could not be immediately reached for comment. The incident comes with tensions on the rise in the region coinciding with the anniversary of the U.S. dr...

LONDON - A British judge has ruled that Julian Assange, the founder of the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks, cannot be extradited to the United States because of the risk he could commit suicide in U.S. detention. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser delivered the verdict Monday. “I am satisfied the procedures described by the U.S. will not prevent Mr. Assange from finding a way to commit suicide and for this reason I have decided extradition would be oppressive by reason of mental harm and I order his discharge,” Baraitser told the court. Assange faces 18 U.S. federal charges relating to allegations of hacking, theft of classified material, and the disclosure of the identities of U.S. informants. Prosecutors have already appealed the verdict. Supporters of Assange celebrated outsi...