Julian Assange Asks U.K. Court to Drop His Arrest Warrant …

No known charges have been filed against Mr. Assange in the United States, but the Justice Department has contemplated prosecuting him, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said that arresting Mr. Assange was a priority.

On Friday, Mr. Assanges lawyer, Mark Summers, told the Westminster Magistrates Court that Swedens withdrawal of the European arrest warrant meant that the British arrest warrant for violating bail no longer applied.

Here are key points in his case since WikiLeaks burst onto the digital scene in 2010.

Its lost its purpose and its function, he said.

He argued that the purpose of the British warrant was to let the extradition case now moot continue, not to charge Mr. Assange with violating bail.

And even if the court disagrees, Mr. Summers said, it should find that it was not in the public interest to charge Mr. Assange with bail violations.

Mr. Assange had reasonable grounds for having sought refuge in the embassy, his lawyer argued, citing the case of Chelsea Manning, the former Army soldier who was imprisoned for leaking documents to WikiLeaks, until her sentence was commuted last year; calls by Mike Huckabee for Mr. Assange to be executed; and findings by United Nations experts that his stay in the embassy amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment.

He has spent 5 years in conditions which, on any view, are akin to imprisonment, without access to adequate medical care or sunlight, in circumstances where his physical and psychological health have deteriorated and are in serious peril, Mr. Summers wrote in a note to the court.

Aaron Watkins, representing the Crown Prosecution Service, asked the court to deny Mr. Assanges request. He said that the warrant should stand and that Mr. Assange could be arrested and prosecuted for the crime of skipping bail.

He said it could not be in the public interest for Mr. Assange having evaded arrest for so long that Swedish prosecutors dropped their case not to be arrested or punished for his failure to surrender and for his contempt for the court process.

Mr. Assanges hypothetical fear of extradition to the United States was not a reasonable explanation for his contempt of court, Mr. Watkins added.

The courts chief magistrate, Emma Arbuthnot, who noted doctors statements that Mr. Assange suffered from depression, tooth pain and a stiff shoulder, adjourned the hearing until Feb. 6.

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Julian Assange Asks U.K. Court to Drop His Arrest Warrant ...