U.S. Lawyers Appeal U.K. Decision To Block Assange Extradition

The 50-year-old Australian, wearing a dark face mask, listened in by video link from London’s high-security Belmarsh prison.

Lawyers acting on behalf of the U.S. government on Wednesday challenged a British judge’s decision to block the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face espionage charges in the United States, arguing that assessments of Assange's mental health should be reviewed. The British judge, Vanessa Baraitser, ruled in January that Assange was likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions. The U.S. government is appealing. Clair Dobbin, a lawyer who represented U.S. authorities during a High Court preliminary hearing on Wednesday, argued that Assange does not meet the threshold of being "so ill" that he cannot resist harming himself.