Relatives and legal team at Assange bail hearing

A British judge is set to decide Wednesday whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be released from the prison where he has been held for more than a year and a half as he fought extradition to the United States.

Assange has been detained at London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison since April 2019, when he was arrested for skipping bail during a separate legal battle seven years earlier.

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser will preside over a bail hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court, two days after she 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.

The judge denied extradition on health grounds, saying the 49-year-old Australian is likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions. The judge ruled "the mental condition of Mr. Assange is such that it would be oppressive to extradite him to the United States of America.”

Lawyers for the U.S. government say they will appeal the decision, and the U.S. Department of Justice says it will continue to seek Assange’s extradition.