London court denies bail to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

A UK court on Wednesday denied bail to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange who is hauled up in the high-security Belmarsh prison in southeast London.

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The London court said that Assange may abscond if granted bail.

Assange will now remain in custody pending a US appeal that blocked his extradition. The US government has charged the whistleblower of leaking secret military documents.

Judge Vanessa Baraitser told Westminster Magistrates Court: "I am satisfied that there are substantial grounds for believing that if Mr Assange is released today he will fail to surrender to the court to face the appellant proceedings."

Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief, said: "It does not make any sense from any point of view to not give him bail, when the court earlier observed his condition."

The judge had earlier blocked Assange's extradition to the United States stating that he is a suicide risk.

Assange faces 18 charges in the US relating to the 2010 release by WikiLeaks of 500,000 secret files detailing military campaigns in Afghanistanand Iraq.

The controversial whistleblower had sought refuge in Ecuador's embassy in 2012 after Sweden issued an arrest warrant in his name for allegedly committing rape, however, the country later dropped the charge.

After spending seven years at the Ecuadorian embassy the government revoked his citizenship allowing British police to drag him out and arrest him in 2019.