Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi on Tuesday said the U.S. government will continue to challenge a British judge’s ruling last month that Assange should not be extradited to the United States because of the risk he would commit suicide.
Julian Assange has been refused bail by a judge, who this week rejected a U.S request to have him extradited to face espionage and hacking charges.
The co-founder of WikiLeaks has been held at the Belmarsh Prison in South-East London since the past 18 months, after he was evicted from the Ecuadorian embassy - where he sought asylum since the past seven years.
Assange's long-running legal woes have become a cause celebre for media freedom, even though the judge hearing the case said he did have a case to answer.
She was referring to the fact that Assange skipped bail and fled to the Ecuadorean embassy in London in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden.
"I am satisfied that there are substantial grounds for believing that if Mr Assange is released today he would fail to surrender to court to face the appeal proceedings.
“Well, the justice system is making its way and we’re not a party to that. And like any Australian, they’re offered consular support and should, you know, the appeal fail, obviously he would be able to return to Australia like any other Australian,” Morrison said.