Britain refused a request to extradite Julian Assange because US prison conditions might make him suicidal. That’s damning.

What does it say about the humanitarian condition of US prisons and jails when one of the United States’ closest allies refuses to extradite a person for fear that American prison conditions would drive him to suicide?

This is exactly what happened on Monday when a British court ruled against the United States’ extradition request for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange due to concerns that his health and safety cannot be assured in US custody.

The United States fought vigorously to extradite Assange so that he can stand trial for alleged violations of the US Espionage Act, as well as other alleged cyber crimes.

We were dismayed by Judge Vanessa Baraitser’s apparently sympathetic approach to the United States’ legal arguments, and we’re disappointed that the court did not reject the radical theory that foreign publishers can be prosecuted for publishing US secrets. The job of national security journalists is to publish the […]