CREDIBLE reports of CIA plots to assassinate or kidnap Julian Assange make it impossible to know what would happen if he were extradited to the United States, the Wikileaks founder’s lawyer told the High Court today.

The central London court heard a second and final day of legal arguments in the US appeal against District Judge Vanessa Baraitser’s decision in January not to extradite Mr Assange, citing a real and “oppressive” risk of suicide.

Representing the journalist, Edward Fitzgerald QC told the court that Mr Assange faced a “menacing, threatening and frightening” situation while under surveillance in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and that he was monitored “in co-operation with an American agency” during his time there.