by Joe Lauria, Consortium News:

Despite fears by his lawyers and doctors that Julian Assange is at high risk of being infected in prison, his judge on Wednesday denied him bail, reports Joe Lauria.

Hrafnnson Blasts Baraister Decision;
Health Warnings on Assange Ignored

Imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange has been denied bail after his lawyers argued he was at risk of a coronavirus infection.

District Judge Vanessa Baraister ruled on Wednesday that Assange was a flight risk and couldn’t be trusted to be released. She repeated hearsay that Assange would prefer suicide to extradition and appeared to tip her hand by saying there was a “high risk of extradition.”

She told Westminster Magistrate’s Court: “I have heard evidence that Assange would consider suicide before being allowed to be extradited to the United States. There is a high risk of extradition.

“No court wishes to keep a defendant in custody, even less so during the emergency we are now experiencing,” Baraister said. “But Mr Assange’s past conduct shows the lengths he is willing to go to escape proceedings.”

Assange was given political asylum in Ecuador’s London embassy in 2012 as he feared that extradition to Sweden would lead to extradition to the United States, a fear much maligned, but proven true as the U.S. wants Britain to send him to a court in Alexandria, VA to stand trial on 17 counts of espionage and one of computer intrusion.

“Conditions imposed on him last time did nothing to prevent him taking the steps that he did,” Baraister said. “At the time he made the decision to enter the Ecuadorian Embassy he was subject to a European arrest warrant. He now faces serious allegations in the US.”

Dismisses Health Concerns

Baraister dismissed concerns by Assange’s lawyers, that given previous health issues, including a lung problem, a prison was a breeding ground for infection. There have been so far no reported cases of coronavirus at Belmarsh Prison. But neither have there been reports of testing at the prison.

A  2018 British government report on prison health, which cited the Care Quality Commission in England, said UK prisons suffer from “overcrowding and lack of personal space” that raises the danger of “communicable diseases.” The report said that in a cell with three beds in Belmarsh, “there was little room to move; if all three men were standing up there was not enough space for them to pass each other without touching.”

“As matters stand today this global pandemic does not of itself yet provide grounds for Mr Assange’s release,” Baraister said. “This is a rapidly changing environment.” .

She said: “It is the government’s responsibility to protect all prisoners and I have no reason not to rely on Public Health England to help the government do exactly that. No cases of COVID 19 having been confirmed in HMS Belmarsh.”

Doctors for Assange had warned this week of the potential danger to Assange in prison.

– Andrea Albutt, President @PGA_Prisons, on inevitability of #COVIDー19 Covid-19 related deaths in UK prisons;
– @TheHowardLeague for Penal Reform on need to protect inmates given “unhygienic” prison conditions; &
– @Doctors4Assange letter to Aus gov requesting that …

[5/7]

— Doctors for Assange (@Doctors4Assange) March 24, 2020

House Arrest Rejected

Assange lawyer Edward Fitzgerald argued in court that Assange would be unlikely to flee Britain given travel restrictions over the pandemic. Fitzgerald’s request that Assange be kept under house arrest with an ankle monitor—as he was detained during his Swedish extradition process—was also denied by Baraister.

‘There is a real risk he will contract coronavirus and suffer a fatality or a serious illness,” Fitzgerald said.

“For 23 hours a day he is in solitary. The opportunity for infection of corona are still there because he is exercising with 40 other people in a confined space. All the fears we have have become compounded,” he said.

Fitzgerald then told the court that Assange would be allowed no visitors.

“He may himself die due to increased risk of exposure. All past lifelines of support for him have been shut down. I was told the weekly visits will be cut down and now I’m told they will not take place at all,” Fitzgerald said.

It was not immediately clear how this would affect visits by his attorneys.

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